Dr. Sigrid Skånland from the Department of Cancer Immunology at the Institute for Cancer Research received Dr. Ragnar Mørk´s Prize for Excellent Cancer Research 2025.

She won the prize for her ground-breaking research on haematological cancers, especially for her studies on precision medicine in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, CLL.

The prize ceremony took place on Friday 21st November in the Auditorium of the New Radium Hospital, L1.

From Oslo University Hospital, in Norwegian:
OUS Innsikt – ny forskning, innovasjon og behandling - channel for science communication

From centres of excellence (UiO/OUH):
CanCell - Centre for Cancer Cell Reprogramming 
Cresco - Centre for Embryology and Healthy Development 
PRIMA - Precision Immunotherapy Alliance - Norwegian version

Mari Kaarbø, leader of the Virology Research Group at Oslo University Hospital, was interviewed by the journal Bioingeniøren after leading one of the research teams that collaborated on the “Oslo patient” project. Kaarbø has been primarily responsible for the careful examination of the patient’s blood and gut cells to identify HIV reservoirs. The patient has been off treatment and clinically virus‑free for nearly three years.

A total of just under NOK 183 million is now being distributed among 24 researchers, 13 of whom are affiliated to Oslo University Hospital. They were selected after independent international experts had assessed a total of 146 applications.
After the all-time fundraising record in the Pink Ribbon Campaign, more researchers than ever are receiving millions in support for vital work against breast cancer.  "Thanks to all the contributions from private individuals and businesses, from the hundreds of thousands who bought and wore the pink ribbon last year, we can now distribute a total of 47 million kroner to six outstanding breast cancer researchers", says Secretary General of the Norwegian Cancer Society, Ingrid Stenstadvold Ross.

Sigrid S. Skånland, researcher at the Institute for Cancer Research, recently published the photo book “Mennesker med kreft = People with cancer”. The book portrays 50 people with cancer and includes short quotes from each participant, both in Norwegian and English. Skånland got the idea to do the photo project after being awarded the price “Researcher of the year” in 2023. The price money (100,000 NOK) was financed by Radiumhospitalets legater and had to be spent on cancer-related activity.

“I noticed that the stereotype of cancer patients presented to us by the media does not reflect the reality. I wanted to see and show what real people with cancer are like,” Skånland says.

Andreassen receives the Colvin Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research for his groundbreaking research on bipolar disorder. The prize is awarded annually by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.  "It is a great honour for me to receive this international award in competition with researchers from all over the world. In the USA, the prize is well-known in the field," says professor Ole Andreassen, who is one of this year's five prize winners.
Andreassen was Norway's most publishing researcher in 2023 and 2024, as measured in publication points. 

A Norwegian research team led by Professor Johanne Olweus has developed a new and groundbreaking method that offers the possibility of treating several aggressive forms of cancer. In an article published in Nature Immunology they propose that TCR-T cells targeting CTNNB1-S37F can serve as a basis for solid cancer immunotherapy.
The results have attracted international attention, and the research was recently featured in a major article in Norway's largest newspaper VG, entitled "Norwegian cancer study: –⁠ This is definitely a breakthrough".

The PREDI-LYNCH consortium officially launched its six-year Horizon Europe project with an in-person kickoff meeting in Heidelberg on September 18, 2025. The partners were welcomed by Project Coordinator Mev Dominguez-Valentin from the Institute for Cancer Research.
The event brought together more than 50 researchers, clinicians, and partners from across Europe. Funded under the EU Mission on Cancer, PREDI-LYNCH unites leading institutions and experts to improve screening, diagnostics, and risk prediction for individuals with a hereditary predisposition to cancer.

Julie Elisabeth Heggelund and Rasmus Iversen, both from the Department of Immunology at the Division for Laboratory Medicine (KLM), were recently awarded KLM's Career Prize for their outstanding early career research work. This award goes to researchers in the category of temporary employees, and was distributed for the first time in 2024. The evaluation committee consisted of three researchers from different KLM departments. The prize, amounting to 75.000 NOK, must be used to further research at OUS. Emma Lång, head of KLM TempAware, led the award ceremony together with her colleagues in the group, who represent the seven departments in KLM.

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Trond Olav Berg