The award is given to Staffan Holmin for his groundbreaking research work with catheters that can be directed to specific parts of central organs via blood vessels, to remove blood clots, to take tissue samples or to place materials into the body.

From the foundation press release:

“Hans Wigzell’s Research Foundation today awards researcher Staffan Holmin. Holmin receives the award of SEK 600,000 for his groundbreaking technology with sophisticated catheters that can be directed to specific brain parts via the blood vessel system. These catheters can not only remove life-threatening blood clots but also be directed to leave the bloodstream and, for example, go into a local tumor, sample or submit material for further treatment. The clinical consequences of Holmin’s pioneering research are very positive, and Staffan Holmin is also a very good lecturer who makes the viewer fascinated by the glory of the human body.”

About Hans Wigzell: Professor of Immunology, Karolinska Institutet. Former Principal of the Karolinska Institute, Head of the Infectious Disease Institute, the State Bacteriological Laboratory and chair of the Karolinska Institute Nobel Committee. Hans is also a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences IVA.

About the Hans Wigzell Research Foundation: The Foundation will promote it’s purpose of supporting scientific research and education in the medical field, especially by awarding scholarships and other grants. The foundation may also arrange and/or support seminars and conferences.

Two new research programmes focusing on AI and bioelectronic medicine, for application in the areas of breast cancer and inflammatory disease, respectively, have been adopted at MedTechLabs. The research is expected to start in January 2020.

In June 2019, MedTechLabs opened a call for a second research area within the centre. The newly appointed Centre Director Peta Sjölander says that both programmes live up to MedTechLab’s focus:

“Research at the centre should be able to achieve breakthroughs in the respective areas and provide results that can benefit healthcare already within five years. The programmes are therefore based on established research.”

The first new programme uses AI and machine learning to radically increase the accuracy of breast cancer imaging diagnostics. Associate Professor and clinician Johan Hartman, researcher at KI, and Associate Professor Kevin Smith, researcher at KTH and SciLifeLab, will lead this programme, which also involves other researchers from KI and KTH. The programme will use decoded data from all patients diagnosed with breast cancer through mammography in the Stockholm region during the period 2005 and 2019.

“This important research programme is possible only through Sweden’s unique access to comprehensive and quality-assured patient data”, says Peta Sjölander.

Every year, approximately 1 500 women die from breast cancer in Sweden, and more and more cases are being detected. At the same time, relative mortality from the disease has decreased. Peta Sjölander believes that the research programme will contribute to a faster and better diagnosis and thus the opportunity to cure more patients and detect cancer earlier throughout the course of the disease.

The second new programme aims for the monitoring and stimulation of the vagus nerve with short electrical pulses, known as bioelectronic medicine, in order to treat inflammatory conditions. The programme is run by Associate Professor Peder Olofsson, researcher at KI and Henrik Hult, Professor at KTH, together with additional researchers from their universities. The programme will also employ doctoral students and researchers at the beginning of their careers.

“To our knowledge, the programme is the first in Europe to implement bioelectronic medicine clinically for the treatment of inflammatory disease in a patient-friendly environment,” says Peta Sjölander.

All research programmes at MedTechLabs are jointly led by a researcher from KTH and one from KI. The operations are mainly conducted in the new research building at the Karolinska University Hospital, BioClinicum in Solna, which has access to advanced medical emergency care, a prerequisite when applying techniques and treatment to patients.

Both programmes are expected to start in January 2020.

MedTechLabs is an interdisciplinary centre for patient-centered research that will contribute to the development of medical technology that is important for the challenges of healthcare. The centre is run by KTH, Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm Region.

For more information, please contact:

Peta Sjölander, peta.sjolander@medtechlabs.se, 070-771 48 80

Two new research programmes, one in bioelectronics and one in AI, have been granted funding from MedTechLabs. More information on the programmes is planned to be released on November 20th, the same date that the Stockholm Regional Assembly meets for the formal decision.

“These are two very good programmes with great potential”, states the evaluation committee chair Björn Eriksson, director of health and medical services in the Stockholm region.

The aim of the call is to link bioelectronic medicine, healthcare and technology, and strengthen the collaboration between KTH, KI and healthcare. MedTechLab’s announcement offered funding for interdisciplinary research with the potential to achieve breakthroughs in the development of how artificial intelligence and/or bioelectronic medicine is used in healthcare. The call was for programmes that are expected to reach clinically applicable results within the coming five years.

The MedTechLab research center is established in collaboration between the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Karolinska Institutet, KI and the Stockholm region.

For more information contact Peta Sjölander, director of MedTechLabs, peta.sjolander@medtechlabs.se

"At the beginning of 2020, Peder Olofsson started a new interdisciplinary collaboration with KTH within the research center Medtechlabs where doctors, immunologists, engineers and mathematicians collaborate. "We analyze nerve signals during inflammation with the aim of laying the foundation for automatically controlling anti-inflammatory treatment," he says. Trials on patients with chronic inflammation are already underway internationally. "Clinical studies of rheumatism and inflammatory bowel disease show encouraging preliminary results. But larger and better designed studies and more precise methods of nerve stimulation are needed to generate more confident observations."

Deadline June 3, 2019. MedTechLabs has opened the call for programs: AI and/or Bioelectronic Medicine.

Program area 2: AI and/or Bioelektronic Medicine
Last day for applications: June 3, 2019
More information is found .