Historical Background to StratCan, forerunner to Cancer Research KI

Cancer Research KI (former StratCan) research 2015-19

StratCan  Executive Board members are appointed by the KI Dean of research. The members are selected to represent different areas of expertise and to be based at different departments on both campuses in order to cover most of the large cancer research field at KI:

StratCan Executive Board 2016-19 research focus

Jonas Bergh, StratCan Research KI (Onk-Pat), research: Breast Cancer

Kamila Czene, Co-Director StratCan (MEB, Deputy Dean), research: Etiology of breast cancer

Martin Bergö (MedH), research: Antioxidants and cancer

Eva Hellström-Lindberg (MedH, Director HERM), research: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)

Lars Holmgren (Onk-Pat, Deputy Dean), research: Mechanisms of blood vessel formation

Randall Johnson (CMB), research: Hypoxia in physiological and pathological contexts

Olli Kallioniemi (Onk-Pat, Director SciLifeLab), research: Precision Cancer Medicine

Sonia Lain (MTC), research: Tumor selective compounds

Andreas Lundqvist (Onk-Pat), research: Cell based immunotheraphy for cancer

Anna Martling (MMK), research: Colorectal cancer and surgery

Ingemar Ernberg (MTC, Director KICancer) affiliated member, field: Cancer and infections

Cancer Researchers at KI and their research areas

StratCan research environment 2010-14

StratCan was operating using funding from the government-based call for Strategic Research Areas. The research themes and original ten applicant research groups included in the application for funding of the Strategic Research Area are listed below. StratCan was initially called "Center for Integrated Cancer Studies at Karolinska Institutet (CICS-KI)". StratCan received an excellent evaluation for its first five years (2010-2014) and was granted funding by the Swedish government for another period of five years (2015-2019) with 20 MSEK/ year.

Under the leadership of Director Rune Toftgård four broad research areas were selected for prioritization:

1. Prevention and early detection
2. Functional annotation of genomic data
3. Tumor microenvironment
4. Targeted therapy and personalized medicine

The large majority of the funding was used to support new initiatives and existing network activities.

Examples of new initiatives were: 

- novel structured collaborations with MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic

- calls for a series of mid-career research positions in basic and translational cancer research

- initiation of the Blue Sky calls, allowing exploration of early and bold concepts

- implementation of highly interactive research summer schools with 3-5 invited world-leading researchers meeting 15-40 KI-based PhD students and PostDocs

- support recruitment packages of leading cancer researcher including Randall S Johnson, Marin Bergö and Lauti Aaltonen

Examples of support to already existing network activities were:

- support to the annual KI Cancer Research retreat at Djurönäset

- support to NatiOn program for training of clinical cancer researchers

Research Groups named in the original StratCan application: 

Jonas Bergh, research: Breast cancer translational research studies

Christer Betsholtz, research: Vascular biology

Henrik Grönberg, research: Prostate cancer and new biomarkers

Catharina Larsson, research: Disease development on the molecular level

Hans-Gustav Ljunggren, research: NK cells in health and disease

Rolf Ohlsson, research: Epigenome and cancer

Rune Toftgård, research: Hedgehog signalling in embryonic development and cancer

Jussi Taipale, research: Cell cycle progression and transcriptional regulation of cell growth

Klas Wiman, research: Tumor suppressor p53 and novel anti-cancer drugs

Arne Östman, research: Tumor stroma and protein tyrosine phosphatases