The board of UiO:Life Science decided on 31 January to admit five new teams to the SPARK Norway innovation programme. This decision is based on the results of the evaluation process.
The new teams:
- ProClass – A patient-specific molecular classifier independent of heterogeneity in primary prostate cancer
Project leader: Bjarne Johannessen, Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital
Team members: Rolf I. Skotheim, Karol Axcrona, Ragnhild A. Lothe, Ulrika Axcrona, Tor ?ge Myklebust, Susanne G. Kidd, Anne Cathrine Bakken, Lise R?dsten - Wearable Electrophysiology Mobility Solutions in Parkinson’s Disease [WEBSPD]
Project leader: Tarun Arora, Researcher, Department of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital
Team members: Mathias Toft (UiO), Christian Tronstad (OUH), Kristian Bernhard Nilsen (OUH), Lasse Pihlstr?m (OUH) - Small molecules targeting FoxP3+ Regulatory T cells for cancer immunotherapy
Project leader: Qian Wei, Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Cancer Immunology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital
Team members: Professor Kjetil Taskén (UiO/OUH), Professor Rafi Ahmad (INN University), Postdoc Nuria García-Díaz (OUH) and UiO Growth House - Blocking pancreatic cancer by small-molecule inhibitors
Project leader: Bj?rn Dalhus, Researcher, Department for Medical Biochemistry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo
Team members: Professor Lars Eide, Department for Medical Biochemistry, UiO, Pernille Blicher, UiO and Marte Eikenes, UiO - Advanced Technology for Identifying and Detecting RNA Modification-Based Cancer Markers
Project leader: Yanjiao Li, Postdoctoral researcher, Oslo University Hospital
Team members: Arne Klungland, Professor and Director CRESCO - Centre for Embryology and Healthy Development, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo - SPARK Norway now has a portfolio 18 active teams – so-called SPARKees
Mentors and milestone plans next
UiO:Life Science received 14 applications in the eigth open call for SPARK Norway autumn 2024.
Each of the admitted projects is now assigned a mentor, advisors and project coordinator who is responsible for following up individual projects. The projects start with setting up milestone plans that respond to the challenges identified by the evaluation committee.
Facts SPARK Norway
- a two-year innovation programme to further develop ideas within health-related life sciences for the benefit of patients and society
- the aim of the programme is to get more innovation out of basic research
- researchers from UiO and affiliated research groups at OUS or Ahus can apply UiO:Life Science to be included in the programme through annual calls
- researchers who are admitted to the SPARK Norway programme receives mentoring from seasoned experts from academia, hospital, industry and venture capital funds, milestone-based funding, guidance and education
- established in the fall 2017 and funded and managed by UiO:Life Science
- based on the prestigious Stanford SPARK programme
- supported by UiO's top management, Inven2 and OUS. Representatives from the clusters Oslo Cancer Cluster, The Life Science Cluster, Nansen Neuroscience Network and Norway Health Tech, as well as the Association of Pharmaceutical Industry in Norway (LMI), Centre for Digital Life Norway, Aleap, Sharelab and Norwegian Medicines Agency.
- the initiative to establish the SPARK programme in Norway originally came from Oslo Cancer Cluster and the Norwegian Inflammation Network. The other two European SPARK programmes – SPARK Berlin and SPARK Finland – were closely involved when UiO:Life Science established the programme at UiO.
- Read more on uio.no/life-science/spark
The applications were evaluated by a committee based on the criteria in the call
- Unmet medical need/need in the market
- Novelty/uniqueness of the new solution
- Strength of Proof-of-Principles
- Market potential and fit
- IP strategy
- Strength and motivation of the team
- Fit with SPARK Norway