What causes cancer tumors that grow in and around the eye?
Eye cancer is rare but potentially fatal. In uveal melanoma, half of the patients develop metastases even after the affected eye has been removed, leaving them with little chance of survival.
Text: based on Karin Tideström text, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2025
Gustav Stålhammar's team is conducting clinical treatment studies and using genetic profiling, AI, and laboratory models to learn more about what causes the tumors, how they spread, and how they can be stopped.
He has developed a DNA test that is already being used in hospitals to identify high-risk patients. His group has also created an AI tool capable of detecting early melanoma among otherwise harmless eye pigmentations and is conducting clinical studies of drugs that block the spread of the tumors. Their goal is clear: to improve survival and reduce suffering for people with eye cancer by enabling earlier detection and developing more effective treatments.