In March, the Swedish Cancer Society announced the distribution of 135 million SEK to 49 research positions and two research schools across nine Swedish universities, supporting research with the potential to benefit patients and society in the long term. In this latest funding round, nine researchers at Lund University received awards, including three postdoctoral researchers at the Lund Stem Cell Center: Jiten Sharma, Sandhya Malla and Johanna Tingvall-Gustafsson.
The funded projects span key challenges in cancer research, from understanding how environmental factors may contribute to disease, to improving immune‑based therapies for patients who currently lack effective treatment options. In this article, we highlight two of the awarded projects and speak with the researchers about how their work could help advance cancer research and care.
Does excess iron promote lung cancer development?
Jiten Sharma,
a postdoctoral fellow in the Stem Cell and Cancer Stem Cell Regulation research group, was awarded a three-year postdoctoral research grant for the project ‘Iron Overload as a Novel Driver of Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma.’
What can you tell us about the project?
"My project explores how iron overload may drive lung squamous cell carcinoma, a particularly challenging form of lung cancer. We are studying how excess iron affects airway basal stem cells, which normally repair the airway, but under stress may be pushed toward a cancer-promoting state. Using patient-derived material and advanced airway models, I want to understand the biology behind this process and identify new ways to detect and target it earlier."
Why is this research important in the context of cancer research?
"Lung cancer remains the world’s leading cause of cancer death, and one of the biggest reasons is late diagnosis. Many patients are diagnosed only after the disease has already progressed. My research looks at a major gap in our understanding: how the airway environment, especially iron imbalance linked to smoking, pollution, and chronic lung damage, may contribute to the earliest steps of cancer, and its later aggressiveness. That opens the door to better biomarkers, earlier intervention, and hopefully better treatment options."
What inspired you to pursue this specific area of research?
"I have always been driven by curiosity about how cells respond to stress and how those responses can go wrong in disease. Over the years, my work in airway biology made me increasingly aware of how vulnerable the lung is to environmental exposure. Then, during my postdoctoral work, I came across findings suggesting that iron has a much stronger role in lung cancer biology than we had appreciated. That combination of curiosity, clinical relevance, and a real scientific gap is what inspired me to pursue this project."
What do you hope this research will lead to?
"I hope it will lead to a better understanding of how lung cancer starts and progresses, but also to something practical: better biomarkers and new therapeutic strategies. Ultimately, I want this work to help move lung cancer research closer to earlier diagnosis and more personalized treatment, so that patients are not meeting the disease only when the road has already narrowed."
Activating the immune system against tumors
Sandhya Malla,
a postdoctoral fellow in the Cellular Reprogramming in Hematopoiesis and Immunity research group, was awarded a three-year postdoctoral research grant for the project ‘Decoding the Regulatory Grammar of Transcription Factor-Mediated Immune Reprogramming.’
What can you tell us about the project?
"Immunotherapy is transforming cancer treatment, but it does not work for all patients. Yet its efficacy is limited by factors such as tumor heterogeneity, immunosuppressive microenvironments, and metastasis.
In this project, we study a novel immune reprogramming strategy developed in the Pereira lab. By introducing three proteins, known as transcription factors – PU.1, IRF8, and BATF3, together called PIB – we can reprogram tumor cells into cells resembling type 1 conventional dendritic cell (cDC1). These are specialized immune cells that can activate an anti-tumor response and reshape the tumor microenvironment.
This conversion can occur in just 9 days and trigger long-lasting immune protection. However, the efficiency of this process varies between tumor types, and we aim to define the underlying mechanisms and barriers that constrain efficient reprogramming."
Why is this research important in the context of cancer research?
"In recent years, immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell therapy have significantly improved cancer treatment, but many patients still do not respond. A key reason is insufficient antigen presentation, which prevents effective immune activation.
Our work addresses this challenge through PIB reprogramming. Using this method, we can convert cancer cells into antigen-presenting cells, enabling immune activation directly within the tumor. However, variable reprogramming efficiency across tumor types remains a barrier to broader application.
By studying how these transcription factors interact with chromatin, and how the timing and duration of their activity influence successful immune reprogramming, we aim to define the conditions required to generate durable immune responses. This knowledge will help us improve immune reprogramming as a potential therapy for cancers that do not respond to current treatments."
What inspired you to pursue this specific area of research?
"I have been fascinated by how biological systems work, particularly how cells function and make decisions, since high school, which led me to pursue biochemistry and molecular biology in higher education. During my PhD, I studied how transcription factors and chromatin regulate cell identity, particularly in stem cells.
Over time, I became increasingly interested in how these same principles apply beyond stem cells and in the immune system. I realized that the mechanisms governing cell fate decisions are also central to immune cell development and function, which motivated me to move into a more translational area with direct clinical relevance.
Discussions with my supervisor, Prof. Filipe Pereira, were also influential in further shaping this transition. His work on immune reprogramming and cancer biology inspired me to apply my background in epigenetics and chromatin biology to challenges in immunotherapy. I am also very grateful for the supportive environment in the lab and the constant encouragement I receive from my family and friends."
What do you hope this research will lead to?
"Our long-term goal is to improve treatment outcomes for cancer patients, particularly those who do not respond to current immunotherapies. By defining the mechanisms that control immune reprogramming, we hope to develop more effective versions of the PIB approach and optimize how it could be used therapeutically. These advances could make immune reprogramming more reliable and applicable across a wider range of cancer types. Beyond its clinical potential, this work will also provide a framework for transcription factor-mediated cellular reprogramming."
Investing in the next generation of cancer researchers
Alongside the projects highlighted here, Johanna Tingvall‑Gustafsson has also received Cancerfonden funding for research on the transcriptional networks that control tissue‑resident memory T cell function, an area with important implications for immune protection in cancer and other diseases.
Together, these projects reflect how basic and translational research can contribute to long‑term public health by improving our understanding of cancer biology and informing the development of more effective, targeted treatments. Through its investments in early‑career researchers, the Swedish Cancer Society is laying the groundwork for future advances that may ultimately improve outcomes for patients.
