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Research

People

Sven Nelander

Sven Nelander, PI

Sven Nelander is a cross-disciplinary scientist focused on understanding, modeling, and treating brain cancers. With a background in medicine and mathematics, his research applies mathematical and experimental techniques to identify mechanisms and therapeutic targets, emphasizing cellular reprogramming to suppress tumor growth and improve therapies. Originally from southern Sweden, Sven studied medicine and mathematics in Lund before earning a Ph.D. in developmental processes in Gothenburg, doing early work in decoding cell type-specific gene regulation. As a postdoc in Chris Sander’s lab and later as an independent investigator, he invented new ways of modeling how cancer cells integrate perturbations from mutation, treatment, and stress. Since joining Uppsala University and SciLifeLab in 2012, Sven has built a research program linking tumor biobanking and neuro-oncology with modern systems biology, with support from several major foundations. He also serves as the founding director of CNSx3, a national center advancing modeling approaches for brain diseases. Outside the lab, Sven enjoys time with family, running, mushroom foraging, and restoring his summer house. He’s also an avid watercolorist with a passion for capturing light and fleeting moments in pigments.

Irem

Irem Uppman

Irem Uppman is a PhD student in Nelander lab. A molecular biologist by background, Irem is interested in investigating cell-states and clonal evolution in primary brain tumors. Her main projects focus on cell-state plasticity and invasion in adult and pediatric high-grade gliomas. She hopes to continue her career in research and contribute to our understanding of brain malignancies. In her free time, Irem likes to read (very quickly), knit (very slowly), take care of her plants (very poorly) and spend time with friends and family.

Anders Sundström

Anders Sundström

Anders Sundström is a bioinformatician working predominantly across the omics landscape along some ventures into system biology and image analysis. A native of Uppsala, he started studying social science and humanities but quickly changed to life science. After completing his Master of Science in Engineering with a focus on bioinformatics, he worked on developing software for comparative genomics. Since 2015, he has been part of the Neuro-Oncology program at the Department of Immunology, Genetics, and Pathology at Uppsala University. In his parallel personal journey, he spent a year at art school where he participated in a group exhibition at the Iziko National Gallery of South Africa, earned a green belt in capoeira and became a two-time champion in the international Gagarin Cup floorball tournament. More recently he is trying to master bouldering with very limited success.

Madeleine

Madeleine Skeppås

Madeleine started as a computational PhD student in Nelander lab in 2023, after earning her M.Sc. in Biophysics from Uppsala University the same year. Her work is focused on leveraging machine learning and image analysis to investigate the morphological and transcriptional heterogeneity and plasticity in glioblastoma. Her most recent work involves developing a method of single-cell tracking for in vitro and ex vivo settings, with the goal of following fluctuations in cellular morphology and protein expression over time. Outside of work, Madeleine dedicates most of her time to catching up with family and friends, as well as taking the occasional forest bath.

Hitesh Mangukiya

Hitesh Mangukiya

Hitesh Mangukiya specializes in studying the complex interactions between tumor cells, vascular cells, and microglia, with a focus on cell dynamics and invasion in glioblastoma. His current research centers on investigating cell dynamics, characterizing patient-specific tumor-endothelial interactions, and enhancing our understanding of glioblastoma’s invasive nature.

Josephine Heinold

Josephine Heinold

Josephine Heinold is a new Ph.D student in Sven Nelander’s group focusing on plastic changes of cell states in GBM and DMG based on CRISPR-Tag genome editing. Originally from Germany, she completed her bachelor in pharmaceutical Biotechnology in a small town called Biberach an der Riss. She continued her education at Uppsala University in molecular medicine focusing on cancer mechanisms at a molecular level. Josi likes to try to do it all in her free time by jumping from knitting, to half-marathons ending up playing the accordion to let her creativity flow while also keeping her house plants alive. She also loves to ‘keep the tan up’ by traveling to warmer places in the summer.

Rebecka

Rebecka Stockgard

Rebecka is a PhD student in Nelander lab.

Publications

Real-time evaluation of glioblastoma growth in patient-specific zebrafish xenografts

Almstedt E, Rosén E, Gloger M, Stockgard R, Hekmati N, Koltowska K, Krona C, Nelander S.

Neuro Oncol. 2022 May 4;24(5):726-738.

Comparative epigenetic analysis of tumour initiating cells and syngeneic EPSC-derived neural stem cells in glioblastoma

Vinel C, Rosser G, Guglielmi L, Constantinou M, Pomella N, Zhang X, Boot JR, Jones TA, Millner TO, Dumas AA, Rakyan V, Rees J, Thompson JL, Vuononvirta J, Nadkarni S, El Assan T, Aley N, Lin YY, Liu P, Nelander S, Sheer D, Merry CLR, Marelli-Berg F, Brandner S, Marino S.

Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 21;12(1):6130.

Autocrine signaling can explain the emergence of Allee effects in cancer cell populations

Gerlee P, Altrock PM, Malik A, Krona C, Nelander S.

PLoS Comput Biol. 2022 Mar 3;18(3):e1009844.

Modeling glioblastoma heterogeneity as a dynamic network of cell states

Larsson I, Dalmo E, Elgendy R, Niklasson M, Doroszko M, Segerman A, Jörnsten R, Westermark B, Nelander S.

Mol Syst Biol. 2021 Sep;17(9):e10105.

NF1 regulates mesenchymal glioblastoma plasticity and aggressiveness through the AP-1 transcription factor FOSL1

Marques C, Unterkircher T, Kroon P, Oldrini B, Izzo A, Dramaretska Y, Ferrarese R, Kling E, Schnell O, Nelander S, Wagner EF, Bakiri L, Gargiulo G, Carro MS, Squatrito M.

Elife. 2021 Aug 17;10:e64846.

Inferring the experimental design for accurate gene regulatory network inference

Seçilmiş D, Hillerton T, Nelander S, Sonnhammer ELL.

Bioinformatics. 2021 May 12:btab367.

Monotherapy efficacy of blood-brain barrier permeable small molecule reactivators of protein phosphatase 2A in glioblastoma

Merisaari J, Denisova OV, Doroszko M, Le Joncour V, Johansson P, Leenders WPJ, Kastrinsky DB, Zaware N, Narla G, Laakkonen P, Nelander S, Ohlmeyer M, Westermarck J.

Brain Commun. 2020 Jan 11;2(1):fcaa002.

A Patient-Derived Cell Atlas Informs Precision Targeting of Glioblastoma

Johansson P, Krona C, Kundu S, Doroszko M, Baskaran S, Schmidt L, Vinel C, Almstedt E, Elgendy R, Elfineh L, Gallant C, Lundsten S, Ferrer Gago FJ, Hakkarainen A, Sipilä P, Häggblad M, Martens U, Lundgren B, Frigault MM, Lane DP, Swartling FJ, Uhrbom L, Nestor M, Marino S, Nelander S.

Cell Rep. 2020 Jul 14;32(2):107897.

HCN Channel Activity Balances Quiescence and Proliferation in Neural Stem Cells and Is a Selective Target for Neuroprotection During Cancer Treatment

Johard H, Omelyanenko A, Fei G, Zilberter M, Dave Z, Abu-Youssef R, Schmidt L, Harisankar A, Vincent CT, Walfridsson J, Nelander S, Harkany T, Blomgren K, Andäng M.

Mol Cancer Res. 2020 Oct;18(10):1522-1533.

Growth-Inhibitory Activity of Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 in Human Glioblastoma Cell Lines Is Heterogeneous and Dependent on Reduced SOX2 Expression

Dalmo E, Johansson P, Niklasson M, Gustavsson I, Nelander S, Westermark B.

Mol Cancer Res. 2020 Jul;18(7):981-991. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-19-0638.

PMID: 31900415; PMCID: PMC6941971.

Real-time evaluation of glioblastoma growth in patient-specific zebrafish xenografts

Almstedt E, Rosén E, Gloger M, Stockgard R, Hekmati N, Koltowska K, Krona C, Nelander S.

Neuro Oncol. 2022 May 4;24(5):726-738.

PMID: 35490730; PMCID: PMC9009924.

Comparative epigenetic analysis of tumour initiating cells and syngeneic EPSC-derived neural stem cells in glioblastoma

Vinel C, Rosser G, Guglielmi L, Constantinou M, Pomella N, Zhang X, Boot JR, Jones TA, Millner TO, Dumas AA, Rakyan V, Rees J, Thompson JL, Vuononvirta J, Nadkarni S, El Assan T, Aley N, Lin YY, Liu P, Nelander S, Sheer D, Merry CLR, Marelli-Berg F, Brandner S, Marino S.

Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 21;12(1):6130.

PMID: 34615747; PMCID: PMC8533345.

Autocrine signaling can explain the emergence of Allee effects in cancer cell populations

Gerlee P, Altrock PM, Malik A, Krona C, Nelander S.

PLoS Comput Biol. 2022 Mar 3;18(3):e1009844.

PMID: 35275681; PMCID: PMC8915275.

Modeling glioblastoma heterogeneity as a dynamic network of cell states

Larsson I, Dalmo E, Elgendy R, Niklasson M, Doroszko M, Segerman A, Jörnsten R, Westermark B, Nelander S.

Mol Syst Biol. 2021 Sep;17(9):e10105.

PMID: 34530610; PMCID: PMC8430723.

NF1 regulates mesenchymal glioblastoma plasticity and aggressiveness through the AP-1 transcription factor FOSL1

Marques C, Unterkircher T, Kroon P, Oldrini B, Izzo A, Dramaretska Y, Ferrarese R, Kling E, Schnell O, Nelander S, Wagner EF, Bakiri L, Gargiulo G, Carro MS, Squatrito M.

Elife. 2021 Aug 17;10:e64846.

PMID: 34421016; PMCID: PMC8352079.

Inferring the experimental design for accurate gene regulatory network inference

Seçilmiş D, Hillerton T, Nelander S, Sonnhammer ELL.

Bioinformatics. 2021 May 12:btab367.

PMID: 33858493; PMCID: PMC8251454.

Monotherapy efficacy of blood-brain barrier permeable small molecule reactivators of protein phosphatase 2A in glioblastoma

Merisaari J, Denisova OV, Doroszko M, Le Joncour V, Johansson P, Leenders WPJ, Kastrinsky DB, Zaware N, Narla G, Laakkonen P, Nelander S, Ohlmeyer M, Westermarck J.

Brain Commun. 2020 Jan 11;2(1):fcaa002.

PMID: 32007595; PMCID: PMC6983439.

A Patient-Derived Cell Atlas Informs Precision Targeting of Glioblastoma

Johansson P, Krona C, Kundu S, Doroszko M, Baskaran S, Schmidt L, Vinel C, Almstedt E, Elgendy R, Elfineh L, Gallant C, Lundsten S, Ferrer Gago FJ, Hakkarainen A, Sipilä P, Häggblad M, Martens U, Lundgren B, Frigault MM, Lane DP, Swartling FJ, Uhrbom L, Nestor M, Marino S, Nelander S.

Cell Rep. 2020 Jul 14;32(2):107897.

PMID: 32608799; PMCID: PMC7388369.

HCN Channel Activity Balances Quiescence and Proliferation in Neural Stem Cells and Is a Selective Target for Neuroprotection During Cancer Treatment

Johard H, Omelyanenko A, Fei G, Zilberter M, Dave Z, Abu-Youssef R, Schmidt L, Harisankar A, Vincent CT, Walfridsson J, Nelander S, Harkany T, Blomgren K, Andäng M.

Mol Cancer Res. 2020 Oct;18(10):1522-1533.

PMID: 32758616; PMCID: PMC7522241.

Growth-Inhibitory Activity of Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 in Human Glioblastoma Cell Lines Is Heterogeneous and Dependent on Reduced SOX2 Expression

Dalmo E, Johansson P, Niklasson M, Gustavsson I, Nelander S, Westermark B.

Mol Cancer Res. 2020 Jul;18(7):981-991.

PMID: 32004222; PMCID: PMC7522682.

News

SSF’s contribution of SEK 60 million to a multidisciplinary center for complex cellular systems goes to Sven Nelander and the project “CNSx3: Transformative Models for Brain Diseases”. The CNSx3 center aims to develop ground-breaking therapies against brain diseases. Three techniques will be used together: organoid cultures in fluid circuits, patient-specific biobanks and advanced computational methodology. In the project, machine learning will also be used to find new treatments and tailor therapies for individual patients. The developed methods will be used in two areas where experimental models have so far been lacking. Partly for cancer of the brain, a form of cancer in which many children die and where there is no treatment for adults, partly for vascular malformations in the brain which mean an increased risk of brain haemorrhage and where there is no preventive treatment.In the center, eight academic groups from several universities and two companies will collaborate with patient organizations and partners in Europe, to develop the methodology and to use it in the best way.Principal applicant is Sven Nelander, UU, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology.
Sven Nelander, professor vid institutionen för immunologi, genetik och patologi, är huvudsökande för ett femårigt projekt med titeln “The Routes of Glioblastoma and their Patient-Specific Vulnerabilities”. Projektet, som har beviljats finansiering med 38 200 000 kronor av KAW, fokuserar på den aggressiva hjärntumörformen glioblastom. Projektet kommer att involvera fem samverkande forskarteam som tillsammans ska använda en ny strategi för att kartlägga olika typer av invaderande tumörceller, för att hitta nyckelgener och läkemedel.
New article about Sven and the CNSx3 project in Uppsala University news: https://www.uu.se/en/news/2025/2025-05-16-brain-researcher-building-new-experimental-platform.

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