Information for patients
Mohn Cancer Research Laboratory for translational cancer research was officially opened on the 21st of December in 2009. The laboratory is situated on floor 1M in the Laboratory building at Haukeland University Hospital. Here, the scientific staff has access to a laboratory with state-of-the-art instruments in close proximity to the clinical departments at the hospital.
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At the Mohn Cancer Research Laboratory we perform translational cancer research. This implies a mutual exchange of findings between the clinic and the research laboratory. The close proximity to the hospital makes the knowledge acquired in the research laboratory readily accessible for the patients and the staff at the hospital.
The researchers at Mohn Cancer Research Laboratory work, amongst other things, on identifying mechanisms for how cancers arise and develop and how tumors acquire resistance to treatment. We also try to pinpoint the genetically inherited factors that can lead to an increased risk of cancer. Inherited genetical changes can contribute to different characteristics of the same type of cancer in different patients, resulting in diverging effects, or side effects, to a given treatment.
These issues are relevant for different types of cancers. At Mohn Cancer Research Laboratory our main work is focused on breast cancer, endometrial cancer, colon cancer and malignant melanoma.
The analyses performed in the laboratory are mostly carried out on tissue samples or blood samples from consenting patients, but also using cell cultures where the induction of genetical alterations allows us to observe how they affect the living cells in a controlled environment.
The main goal of our work is increased knowledge and understanding of the characteristics of the cancer cells, hopefully leading to more personalized cancer treatment for the patients.