CancER-phagy: Unravelling and targeting ER-phagy in cancer
Many cancer cells exhibit persistent ER stress, which promotes tumour growth, metastasis and resistance to therapies. Stressed ER components are cleared by a pathway known as "ER-phagy", which is emerging as an attractive target for treating ER stress in cancer. However, the mechanisms by which ER-phagy dysregulation contributes to cancer progression are still emerging, which has hindered the development of clinical therapies targeting this pathway. The CancER-phagy project will examine this pathway from a new angle, focusing on how membrane remodelling of ER subunits is co-ordinated during ER-phagy and how this contributes to downstream signalling and cancer progression.
https://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/english/people/aca/samuerod/
Cracking the Code of Cod Centromeres
Centromeres — the tiny regions that keep our chromosomes in order during cell division — are essential for life. When centromeres malfunction, chromosomes are mis-segregated during cell division, leading to aneuploidy — a hallmark of many cancers and genetic disorders. While scientists have learned a lot about human centromeres, those in fish remain largely unexplored. The CENTROdeCODe project led by Nikolina Sekulic is set to change this by "decoding" the centromeres of Atlantic cod, a species with a uniquely complex genome.
This research goes far beyond marine biology. By revealing how cod centromeres are organized and maintained, the project provides clues to the fundamental rules of chromosome stability across species. These insights could one day help design artificial chromosomes for aquaculture and inspire new approaches to genome engineering and therapies for human diseases linked to chromosome errors.
https://www.med.uio.no/imb/english/people/aca/nikolise/index.html
FRIPRO funding from The Research Council of Norway:
https://www.forskningsradet.no/nyheter/2025/374-millionar-kroner-banebrytande-forskarar/