The Lund Stem Cell Center Article of the Year Award, presented annually since 2017, highlights exceptional research conducted at the Center that contributes to advancements in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.
Principal Investigators at the Lund Stem Cell Center are invited to nominate outstanding publications from their research teams, published in the previous year. Following an external review process, the winning article is announced during the Center's Annual Retreat, a key event that fosters scientific collaboration and innovation.
Introducing the 2024 Article of the Year Nominees
This year’s top three nominees represent diverse and impactful research, each providing valuable insights into critical scientific and medical challenges:
Elina Fredlund, a doctoral student in the Mohlin Research Group, was nominated for her article, "MOXD1 is a lineage-specific gene and a tumor suppressor in neuroblastoma," published in Science Advances (2024). This study identified a novel tumor-suppressor role for MOXD1 in neuroblastoma, one of the most aggressive childhood cancers, potentially paving the way for more effective treatments for young patients in the future.
Raquel Garza, a postdoctoral researcher in the Jakobsson Research Group, was nominated for her study, "LINE-1 retrotransposons drive human neuronal transcriptome complexity and functional diversification," published in Science Advances (2023). Their findings explored how LINE-1 elements contribute to brain complexity, offering new avenues for understanding the genetic underpinnings of neurological disorders and brain development.
Olga Zimmermannova, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Pereira Research Group, was nominated for her cancer immunotherapy research. The article, "Restoring tumor immunogenicity with dendritic cell reprogramming," published in Science Immunology (2023), describes an innovative strategy for making tumors more visible to the immune system.
Spotlight on the 2024 Article of the Year
On Tuesday, October 1, 2024, the Center awarded first-author, Dr. Olga Zimmermannova, with the 2024 Article of the Year award. Olga Zimmermannova’s winning research addresses a key challenge in cancer therapy: tumors' ability to evade detection by the immune system.
Tumors often develop mechanisms that allow them to hide from immune surveillance, making it difficult for the body to recognize and attack them. Working with a team led by Professor Filipe Pereira at Lund University, Olga Zimmermannova developed a method to reprogram cancer cells into dendritic cells - immune cells that identify foreign substances and activate T cells to fight them.
Using three proteins, so called transcription factors, the researchers successfully converted cancer cells into functional dendritic cells. These newly reprogrammed cells could present tumor antigens, making the cancer cells visible to the immune system and prompting a strong anti-tumor response.
Olga Zimmermannova and the team then reprogrammed cancer cells from mice, transformed them into dendritic cells in the lab, and injected them back into the mice’s tumors in a pre-clinial study. This approach triggered an immune response, reduced tumor size, and significantly increased survival rates in mice with various types of cancer. When this treatment was combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors - drugs that boost the immune response - complete tumor regression was observed in 20% of the cases.
This research marks a promising step toward developing a new gene therapy for cancer, offering hope for improving treatment outcomes for patients with cancers that are resistant to current therapies.
Lund Stem Cell Center would like to acknowledge the continuous efforts of our members in advancing stem cell biology and regenerative medicine research. The Center would also like to thank each of the nominees for their participation in the Article of the Year Award process and congratulate this year's awardees for their innovative contributions to the field.
