Positioning Norway towards the EU Cancer Mission 

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Artificial intelligence is one of the central themes as Norway responds to the EU Cancer Mission.

The European Union has launched the Mission on Cancer and the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan that aim to jointly improve the lives of 3 million people by 2030. 

Norwegian organisations working in cancer, including Oslo Cancer Cluster, the Norwegian Research Council, the Norwegian Cancer Society and others, have joined forces to make the most of these opportunities. Together, they have formed the Cancer Mission Hub Norway. 

“With a long tradition of patient involvement, a strong national health service and many emerging companies in the health sector, Norway is uniquely positioned to respond to the EU’s Cancer Mission,” said Ole Aleksander Opdalshei, Deputy General Secretary of the Norwegian Cancer Society, as he opened the meeting Artificial Intelligence in Cancer – Implementation and EU opportunities. 

One of the hub’s initiatives is to position Norway in the AI field, by gathering relevant actors and exploring the AI & cancer theme. 

View the meeting here:

The promises of AI 

Vibeke Binz Vallevik, moderator for the meeting held at Kreftforeningens Vitensenter on 13 October 2022 introduced the subject: 

“We have been talking about AI in healthcare for a few years now – its hype and potential. How it can accelerate research, help drug discovery, handle large datasets, improve manual processes and be a tool for clinical decision support.” 

The possible applications of AI in oncology are plentiful. An example of how artificial intelligence can be used to improve cancer prognosis is the DoMore Project, from the Institute of Cancer Genetics and Informatics, Oslo University Hospital. 

“AI and deep learning represent a new era for prognosis and the field is growing exponentially,” said Professor Håvard Danielsen, leader of the DoMore Project and recipient of the King Olav V’s Cancer Research Award, during a keynote speech at the meeting. 

Danielsen presented how they have developed an AI-based prognostic tool for prostate, colorectal and lung cancer. 

Read more about DoMore here: https://oslocancercluster.no/2022/05/09/ai-researcher-gets-cancer-award/ 

A challenging path 

Vallevik mentioned the barriers to clinical implementation, including technological issues, legal access, culture, competence, procurement and economic factors, organizational, infrastructure, data quality, quality assurance and trust. This all begs the question: is AI in health just a hype? 

A scientific panel talked about the opportunities and challenges in artifical intelligence and health. Photo: Sofia Linden / Oslo Cancer Cluster

A scientific panel brought their perspectives on these opportunities and challenges. 

“AI is really key to empower and enable precision medicine, so matching patients to drugs and stratifying patients in a more intelligent way. It is absolutely key to fully personalize the cancer therapies in the future. We are working for instance on developing personalized cancer vaccines, that is completely dependent on AI,” commented Richard Stratford, CEO, NEC OncoImmunity AS. 

Inga Strümke, Researcher at the Dept. of Computer Science, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at NTNU, raised an ethical dilemma: 

“You cannot guarantee that a neural network that has learned to solve a problem will always work and function the way you expect and intended it to. So, what should we do instead? I think medicine is well-equipped to answer this question, because it has a strong tradition for testing systematically.”  

As both Hauke Bartsch, Assoc. Prof. (University of Bergen/Dept. of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital) and Ishita Barua, MD & Manager at Deloitte, also pointed out during the discussions, another challenge is ensuring that AI-based tools are adapted for their users, namely the health personnel and the patients.  

How can Norway contribute? 

The second part of the meeting included a keynote speech from Evangelia Markidou, Head of Sector – Artificial Intelligence Technology, Deployment and Impact at European Commission, and a policy panel. The panel discussed how national multidisciplinary initiatives can pave the way for European collaborations. 

“How can a country like Norway contribute? Our public health system is one of the best in the world and the Cancer Registry has collected data from patients for the last 70 years. This enables us to see what is happening on a population scale that other countries cannot. We can document what works and doesn’t work,” said Ketil Widerberg, general manager of Oslo Cancer Cluster. 

The number of successful Norwegian research applications for EU funding also shows great promise.  

“If you look at applications within cancer and artificial intelligence during the last two years, Norwegian researchers have received 10 million euros in total,” said Ole Johan Borge, Department Director Health, Research Council of Norway. 

Cancer Mission Hub Norway will continue to work towards informing, fostering, and mobilising the Norwegian research environments towards the EU Cancer Mission.  

Stay updated to upcoming news and events via the Cancer Mission Hub website

Pexels / Anna Tarazevich

Preventing breast cancer in Norway

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A new research project is exploring how polygenic risk score tests can be used for early detection and prevention of breast cancer in Norway.

Your genes can reveal more about your future than you might realise. New testing technology called polygenic risk scores provide a measure of your personal risk to develop a disease due to your genes.

The research project AnteNOR is exploring how these tests can be implemented in Norway to prevent and detect breast cancer earlier.

“We need tools for more precise screening. Many cancer risks come from our genetic dispositions, and we can identify individual risk levels for common cancers with personalized screening,” said Peeter Padrik, CEO of the Estonian company Antegenes, which offers clinical grade genetic tests for cancer precision prevention.

Breast cancer screening in Norway is done through the mammography programme, coordinated by the Norwegian Cancer Registry, and usually starts when a woman turns 50. However, 20 per cent of all breast cancer cases happen to women who are younger than 50 years old. Some of these women could benefit from taking the polygenic risk score test. 

“We are currently seeing a revolution in cancer diagnostics, treatments, and care. We believe personalised approaches have the potential to transform cancer from a deadly disease to a disease patients live well with. Identifying breast cancer early by using genetic tests is part of this revolution,” said Ketil Widerberg, general manager at Oslo Cancer Cluster.

The project is a public-private collaboration between Antegenes, Oslo Cancer Cluster and some of Norway’s top cancer research and hospital environments at the University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital and Vestre Viken Hospital Trust.

The AnteNOR partners will together investigate how to create models for new screening programmes, where genetics-based screening can be used. The project also investigates how to implement these new approaches in the clinic and national health service.

The project has been funded by the Norway Grants Green ICT Programme and will be carried out in 2022-2023.

15 years of Cancer Crosslinks 

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Take a peek behind the scenes in the making of the 15th edition of Cancer Crosslinks.

Cancer Crosslinks, a unique educational forum for the Norwegian oncology community, will take place on 26 January 2023 at Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park.  

Activating the community 

It has truly “taken a village” to build the annual meeting place Cancer Crosslinks, in the sense that it has been supported by a whole community in oncology. 

Cancer Crosslinks was established in 2009, when Oslo Cancer Cluster in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb organized the first meeting of its kind. Since then, the meeting has been supported by 15 sponsors in addition to BMS – all members of Oslo Cancer Cluster. 

The lively networking is one of the signatures of Cancer Crosslinks, where clinicians, researchers, industry representatives, health officials, and more, meet and make new connections. Photo: Cameo UB

The goal of Cancer Crosslinks is to promote interactions between researchers and clinicians, as well as to encourage translational and clinical research, and new collaborations to advance the development of innovative cancer treatments. 

Charlotte Wu Homme, Head of Membership and Events, Oslo Cancer Cluster, and Project Lead, Cancer Crosslinks, commented: 

“Oslo Cancer Cluster is committed to supporting the tradition of scientific inquiry by providing relevant and successfully facilitated symposiums for the oncology community. This support, made possible by our members and sponsors, helps us to make a positive impact on society.” 

Homme collaborates with the Oslo Cancer Cluster team and student companies from Ullern Upper Secondary School, to ensure the event is delivered successfully. 

Latest research developments 

The hallmark of Cancer Crosslinks is the full-day educational programme featuring distinguished international and national experts presenting recent advances in oncology. 

Jutta Heix, Head of International Affairs, Oslo Cancer Cluster, and Scientific Lead and Co-Founder, Cancer Crosslinks, commented: 

“When developing the programme, we start by identifying emerging concepts and recent progress in precision treatment and immuno-oncology, which are close to clinical implementation and of relevance beyond one specific cancer indication. We then reach out to leading experts from the US and Europe who can discuss these topics. Inviting these clinicians and researchers to Norway offers a unique opportunity to stimulate discussions and potential collaborations with their colleagues here.” 

Michel Sadelain, Director, Center for Cell Engineering, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Cancer Crosslinks has attracted renowned speakers from across the world. In 2020, Michel Sadelain, Director, Center for Cell Engineering, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, gave a talk.

The title of Cancer Crosslinks 2023 is “New dimensions to the hallmarks of cancer: How is the last decade of discoveries advancing our understanding of cancer biology and transforming precision medicine?”. The idea of The Hallmarks of Cancer was originally coined by Douglas Hanahan and Robert Weinberg in a 2000 paper published in CELL. It has inspired the Cancer Crosslinks programmes since 2009.

“We are honoured that Prof. Hanahan accepted our invitation to give the opening keynote,” Heix added. 

Across sectors and borders 

Cancer Crosslinks is open to everyone and free to attend, and usually attracts more than 350 representatives from all over Norway. The lively networking is one of the main reasons people participate on-site. The program is also live-streamed, which opens for even broader and more international participation.

Cancer Crosslinks attracts participants from across Norway and different sectors of society. Photo: Cameo UB

Marine Jeanmougin, EU Advisor, Oslo Cancer Cluster, commented: 

“The rise of digital technologies presents an opportunity to support oncology care and address some of the unmet needs in the clinic. We are thrilled to welcome two outstanding young researchers to talk us through their latest work in computational biology and clinical artificial intelligence!” 

Cancer Crosslinks has become one of the leading national meeting places gathering oncologists, hematologists, translational researchers, healthcare providers, regulatory experts, and industry representatives. 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Cancer Crosslinks 2023: Find out more 

 

This meeting series is marking 15 years of excellence based on the continued support of members of Oslo Cancer Cluster, the team behind Oslo Cancer Cluster and the wider oncology ecosystem. Thank you also to Innovation Norway for supporting Cancer Crosslinks through the mature cluster programme. 

 

Norwegian technology to help UK oncologists

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British hospitals can now improve care of breast cancer patients by using a new health data platform from Norway.

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s UK branch has announced grants to provide NHS hospitals with subscription access to a research and registry platform from the Norwegian company Ledidi. The platform will be used for clinical audit of breast cancer patients.

Ledidi, a member of Oslo Cancer Cluster, was formed by two academic surgeons, who saw the need for better tools for collecting, structuring, analyzing and visualizing health data.

Improving patient treatment

Knowledge about the effect of cancer treatments and diagnostics is often limited to what is known from clinical studies, but little is known about the effect once they are implemented in standard clinical practice.

“For cancer clinics, the possibilities of monitoring patient outcomes combined with other data from their patients daily, gives new possibilities of understanding the effect of their efforts and identifying areas in patient care and treatment that could be improved,” commented Einar Martin Aandahl, CEO and co-founder of Ledidi.

The problem is that data gathered from patients is often fragmented in different systems, unstructured and contains a lot of free text. To be able to monitor patients’ outcomes, the data needs to be structured in a way that makes them available for analysis.

Collaboration between clinics

The two clinicians teamed up with engineers and developed a cloud-based service to help clinicians and researchers collaborate on data across hospitals and faster reach novel discoveries.

“Ledidi Core allows the clinicians to create structured databases and forms for data capture, so that data can be collected in the same format from several collaborating colleagues or clinics. The solution is designed for multiple participants to collaborate on a shared database,” Aandahl explained.

According to Aandahl, the database can be shared between health personnel, but they cannot access each other’s data directly, and it is done in compliance with security and privacy regulations. Still, everyone can run analysis on the whole dataset and get instant results from the data. Aandahl also informs us the database can be used both for research studies and patient registries.

“By collaborating with other clinics, one also gets the possibility to compare practice from clinic to clinic and find a benchmark for how your own clinic is performing. By this, we aim to break down the barriers between research and clinical practice,” Aandahl added.

Towards data-driven healthcare

Almost every sector of society is becoming increasingly digitalized, but the health care sector has been lagging behind, both because of strict regulations on health data and the complexities in providing healthcare.

“By finding safe and easy ways to structure and collaborate on health data for secondary purposes, we can generate new knowledge and insights that can improve patient care and the health of many people. We believe health care needs to be more data driven and we work to lift the barriers standing in the way,” Aandahl said.