Bigger Research Projects 2025

Stiftelsen Assar Gabrielssons Fond annually awards, according to its regulations, "two grants for large projects, preferably one for preclinical cancer research and one for clinical cancer research".

This year, two projects of high quality will receive 600 000 SEK each: Oscar Jalnefjord's and Evgeniia Shcherbinina's, both researching at the University of Gothenburg.

Oscar Jalnefjord

Project title: Characterization of microvascular function and vascular microstructure in brain tumors using magnetic resonance imaging

This project will develop imaging methods for characterizing microvascular function and vascular microstructure of brain tumors using MRI, particularly through 'intravoxel incoherent motion' (IVIM). Key questions are:

1. Can IVIM replace today's contrast agent-based perfusion imaging?
2. Can IVIM-derived information on microvascular function and vascular microstructure improve characterization and early treatment response assessment of brain tumors?

Oscar Jalnefjord is a senior medical physicist at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and an associate professor at the Department of Medical Radiation Sciences at University of Gothenburg. He received his PhD in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in 2018 and has since combined clinical work with research focusing on development of novel MRI methods for characterizing microvasculature and microstructure in tumors.

Evgeniia Shcherbinina

Project title: siRNA Therapeutics for Silencing Oncogenes in Cancer

This project aims to enhance cancer therapy by targeting c-Myc pre-mRNA in the cell nucleus using optimally designed siRNAs for more effective and lasting gene silencing. I will target c-Myc in human derived organoids from colorectal cancer patients as well as in vivo xenografts models to identify the most promising siRNA-drug candidates.

Evgeniia Shcherbinina is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg. She received her PhD in Life Sciences from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow in 2022. During her PhD studies, she conducted research in Daniel Anderson's lab at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. After completing her PhD, she joined Aishe Sarshad's group at the University of Gothenburg through the joint Postdoctoral Program within the AstraZeneca and WCMTM framework. Her primary research explores siRNA-based therapeutics in cancer, focusing on new mechanisms of gene silencing of unconventional cancer targets.