The Eva Selin Memorial Fund was established to promote cancer genetic and environmental technology research. This year’s SEK 40,000 grant was awarded to a researcher who is involved in wide-ranging international projects.
Eva Selin Lindgren was a nuclear physicist, professor of environmental physics, opponent of nuclear power and lifelong advocate of interdisciplinary collaboration. The memorial fund that now bears her name was established following her death in 2011, shortly after she had turned 75.
The fund, which is to promote cancer genetic and environmental technology research, has just awarded its third grant.
“After landing in Brussels on the way to a meeting, I found a message on my voicemail,” Dr. Linderholm says. “When I called back and got the news, I was both happy and flabbergasted.”
Dr. Linderholm is an associate professor at Sahlgrenska Academy and consulting physician at the Oncology Department of Sahlgrenska University Hospital. She participates in several national and international collaborative projects that are conducting translational breast cancer studies. She co-authored three important scientific articles in 2014: identification of new biomarkers, efficacy of radiation and hormone therapy, and an overview of breast cancer in men.
Dean Olle Larkö and Ian Milsom, Head of the Department, praise Dr. Linderholm’s achievements. Both of them regard her affiliation with Gothenburg as a key asset for ongoing breast cancer research at Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
“Dr. Linderholm’s work is worth every penny of the grant,” Mr. Milsom says. “Nobody realized until after the announcement that she had been among Eva Selin’s caregivers at the end of her life, which adds a whole new dimension to it.”
Dr. Linderholm will use the grant for a project in which she and her team attempt to characterize cerebral metastases in breast cancer patients. The field is wide open for new and improved diagnostic and treatment methods.
“Breast cancer research has made enormous strides over the past 10-15 years,” Dr. Linderholm says. “But we have not come as far for patients who suffer relapses.”
The grant was presented during a ceremony at Sahlgrenska Academy on April 1.
TEXT: KRISTER SVAHN
PHOTO: PONTUS SUNDÈN
FACTS
Previous recipients
2013: Khalil Helou, Associate Professor and researcher at the Department of Oncology, Institute of Clinical Sciences
2014: Elias Hartvigsson, doctoral student at the Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers Institute of Technology
Eva Selin Memorial Fund
Eva Selin Lindgren was a 1980s and 1990s pioneer and advocate for collaboration among various environmental fields. The initiatives she launched to reinforce and coordinate that effort helped spur the establishment of the Center for Environment and Sustainability (GMV) and have lent Chalmers an international reputation as a leader in research and education for ensuring a sustainable future.