Swartling lab

Understanding childhood brain tumor development and mechanisms of tumor recurrence

In the Swartling lab we aim to improve the survival rate of medulloblastoma and high-grade glioma, two of the most common malignant brain tumors found in children. Our lab use experimental models where we overproduce clinically relevant cancer proteins, like MYC, SOX and PDGF proteins to study how various normal brain cells become malignant cancer cells. We develop innovative preclinical models for specific subgroups of brain tumors to facilitate drug discovery and testing. We further use single cell sequencing technologies to study cells from patient samples both at primary operation and at relapse to understand the molecular mechanisms of the recurrence process. Finally, we develop novel gene therapies to target cells that become resistant to standard therapies. With our research we hope we can find better therapies for patients affected by these serious brain tumors.