University of Oulu researcher receives over €1 million grant to develop new cancer treatments

A researcher at the University of Oulu has been awarded a €1.008 million grant to study drug resistance in cancer cells, aiming to advance more effective treatments and improve long-term outcomes for targeted therapies, Yle reports.

Daniela Ungureanu, an associate professor at the university, will lead the research, which focuses on how cancer cells develop resistance to medications—a major obstacle in successful treatment. Despite progress in oncology, many cancers recur when a subset of cells survives therapy and adapts to resist drugs.

“The reason so many cancers become incurable is that a small fraction of cells evades treatment and causes relapse,” Ungureanu stated in a university press release.

Her team is investigating the regulatory mechanisms of cancer cells at the single-cell level, using a novel analytical method to examine drug responses with greater precision. The findings could help identify new drug compounds and treatment strategies for different cancer types.

The grant was awarded by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, which distributed a total of €8.3 million to 12 projects in medicine, arts, and culture in March. Only 11.7% of applicants received funding.