Tobias Sjöblom – Finding and understanding cancer-causing molecular alterations
Our research focuses on molecular changes that are associated with cancer. The aim is to find and develop ways to use measurable molecular information for diagnosis and treatment for cancer.
We utilise molecular biology, databases and clinical data as well as patient material, cell lines and other tumour models to learn more about cancer development and how to detect and combat tumours effectively. Most of our work concerns colorectal cancer but in some projects we also study other types of cancer.
Our main areas of interest are:
- Identification of cancer-specific mutations and other aberrations in cancer cells.
- Investigation of how specific mutations contribute to tumour development or metastasis.
- Development of anti-cancer treatment that targets specific genetic properties of cancer cells.
- Identification of blood-borne biomolecules that are linked to occurrence of cancer.
- Development of methods to aid or improve diagnosis.
Ongoing research includes e.g. identification and functional studies of genetic aberrations in colorectal cancers, development of a novel cancer treatment and identification of biomarkers to enable blood-based cancer diagnostics tests.
Our strong interest in medical diagnostics has also led to several ongoing projects on development of automated image analysis software for use in clinical radiology.
Our research has previously resulted in spin-out companies to enable implementation of research results in health care. Oncodia AB develops CE/IVD approved software and reagent kits for application in clinical genomics that guides treatment selection.
Research infrastructure support
Translational cancer research is dependent on high quality patient materials and Tobias Sjöblom is Director of the U-CAN project, where clinical samples and information are collected from cancer patients for the purpose of supporting high quality research. He also heads the research infrastructure of Biobank Sweden.