Rebel connects information technology- and software developers – and soon also companies working in the cancer field. They are located in the renovated Televerket building in Universitetsgata 2 in Oslo. All photos: Rebel

New collaboration with Rebel

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Drone photo of a square at night.Rebel

Rebel and Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator start a collaboration to tighten the ties between cancer research and information technology.

The world of cancer treatments and the world of information technology sometimes seem far apart. A new collaboration between Rebel and Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator sets out to be beneficial to companies that inhabit both worlds – and to our society in general.

“Technology is about more than lines of code and gadgets. It is also about solving big societal challenges. This is an opportunity for us to contribute in one of the most important cases there is – cancer. Imagine how rewarding it is for tech heads to use their knowledge to improve diagnostics and cancer treatments,” said Peter Jetzel, Chief Rebel.

Rebel connects information technology- and software developers in the centre of Oslo. Since the hub opened last autumn, they have experienced that the need for technological competencies in Oslo is massive, also in the health sector and in companies that are traditionally considered biotech.

 

Man on hood of car - DeLorian

Peter Jetzel, Chief Rebel, on the hood of the DeLorian in one of the common areas in Rebel.

 

“Technology is an important driver in the future of cancer treatments, as digitalisation changes how we understand and develop medicine,” said Ketil Widerberg, CEO at Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.

 

Wonderful spaces

The emerging health industry in Norway is booming, and more space is needed as the main Oslo Cancer Cluster hub at Campus Radiumhospitalet develops. While the construction of a second part of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park is under way, companies in Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator can find space and new partners at Rebel.

Rebel has offices, conference rooms, project rooms, studios, makers spaces and a software lab in the area of Tullin, in the middle of Oslo. These will be made available to companies in Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.

 

A meeting room.

Some of the meeting rooms in the Rebel building come with a view.

 

A dynamic collaboration

The collaboration is dynamic and full of opportunities. There is room for projects, exchange of expert competencies, new establishments, and common arenas. The ambition is that the initiatives will grow from the grass, so to speak, on arenas that are made for knowledge sharing.

“To give the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, artificial intelligence will be central. To accelerate development of new cancer treatments, health data will be collected and analyzed in entirely new ways. In short, we need to think differently,» said Ketil Widerberg.

«Collaboration in clusters and collaborations between clusters are two sides of the same coin. Our two knowledge environments have different professional anchorages, but we are heading towards the same goal. We are starting this collaboration to find synergies and energy for mutual benefits,” said Peter Jetzel.

Marine Jeanmougin is the new EU advisor in Oslo Cancer Cluster.

A truly European advisor

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Woman with long brown hair and white sweater standing in front of concrete wall smiling.Oslo Cancer Cluster

Marine Jeanmougin is the new EU advisor in Oslo Cancer Cluster. She defines herself as truly European.

“People outside Europe think of Europe as one destination. When they take a trip to a European country, they say they are travelling to Europe, and not to France, Germany, or Norway. This has influenced the way I see the continent as well,” said Jeanmougin.

The new EU advisor defines herself as European, and even beyond, as a citizen of the world. She has lived in Norway, Canada, and France, and has family and extended family around the globe.

“The way Europe is connected reinforces the feeling of it being one entity. You can always take a plane or a train for a couple of hours and be back home,” said Marine Jeanmougin.

Building bridges

With a PhD in Applied Mathematics, she knows the academic slopes from various institutions and countries. She has worked as a researcher at the Curie Institute in Paris, and at the Institute for Cancer Research in Oslo. In 2019, she secured a career grant from Helse Sør-Øst and established her own research team at the Department of Molecular Oncology, Oslo University Hospital. Her team is mainly exploring epigenetics heterogeneity in gastrointestinal cancers.

While working as the EU advisor in Oslo Cancer Cluster, she will keep conducting her research activities part-time.

Jeanmougin has a strong interest in building bridges between research and industry, and the EU advisor missions resonate strongly with her professional and personal motivations.

The advantages of the EU

“During the pandemic, and now with the war in Ukraine, it is so important to have one European system that protects us and gives us rights as European citizens, not just as citizens of separate nations,” said Marine Jeanmougin.

Part of what Marine Jeanmougin will do in Oslo Cancer Cluster, is related to these advantages that the EU grants researchers and businesses across its internal- and external borders. She will largely help connect the various actors of cancer research and innovation partners to support them in the development of project proposals under Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

If you have EU-related questions, please contact Marine Jeanmougin by email.

Rebekka Rolfsnes will be working at a lab at the Department of Pharmacy during her PhD, but in this photo, she and Pål Rongved are in one of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator’s labs.

A PhD on antibiotic resistance

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Two people at a lab, one in a white coat.OCC

Rebekka Rolfsnes is doing her PhD with the start-up AdjuTec Pharma AS and the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Oslo (UiO). Together, they will look for solutions to antibiotic resistance.

 

Rebekka Rolfsnes has a Master’s in molecular biology and will be starting her PhD next month. The subject is antibiotic resistance, and more accurately she will study the mechanism of action of one of AdjuTec Pharma’s new compounds, called APC247, on resistant enzymes, bacteria, and off-target effects in human cells. The PhD project is a result of a collaboration between the industry and the university.

Read more about the industry PhD scheme at UiO’s web pages.

A hope to save the world

When asked why she wanted to work with AdjuTec, Rebekka Rolfsnes said:

“Working with a start-up in this field is a unique opportunity to be part of something big all the way from start.”

“Besides, the combination of pharmacy and microbiology is the most intriguing I know,” she added.

Rolfsnes will be writing three articles that will cast new light on the global health problem of antibiotic resistance.

“This is the subject that is closest to my heart because it is a global challenge and there is a hope to save the world. Although it is also a very scary issue,” Rolfsnes admitted.

Win-win relationship

Professor Hanne Cecilie Winther-Larsen at the Department of Pharmacy, UiO, is Rolfsnes’ main PhD supervisor.

“This PhD project will meet one of the largest challenges our society is currently facing, antimicrobial resistance, and we are happy to be a part of it. In the early phase of this project, there are many questions to answer and experiments to perform, which we find scientifically interesting,” said Winther-Larsen.

Woman in lab coat at lab

Professor Hanne Cecilie Winther-Larsen, in the lab at the Department of Pharmacy, UiO.

The Department of Pharmacy offers both competence and the infrastructure to support a successful outcome for the project. Professor Winther-Larsen had no doubt:

“The mutual relationship between the industry and the university creates a win-win situation.”

 

The slow pandemic

Antibiotics are important for treating infections but also for prophylactic use during major surgery, cancer therapy, and for patients vulnerable to infections, such as patients on immunosuppressive drugs and catheterized patients. But after many years of successful treatment of bacterial infections, there has been an alarming increase of infections that are resistant to even last-resort antibiotics.

Pål Rongved, founder, project leader, and CSO in AdjuTec, and professor at UiO, put it this way:

“Antibiotic resistance is the slow pandemic. It is a steadily increasing threat.”

Antibiotic resistance, or antimicrobial multidrug resistance, is due to decades of overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and human medicine, and with few antibiotic innovations. This creates all kinds of problems in hospitals, where the presence of bacteria is high.

5 people in front of a modern building in sunshine

The entire Adjutec Pharma team in front of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park. From the left: Pål Rongved, Bjørg Bolstad, Ragnar Hovland, Rebekka Rolfsnes and Bjørn Klem.

AdjuTec’s story

AdjuTec’s story started in 2009, when professor Pål Rongved and one of his PhD students at UiO, Alexander Åstrand, found a remarkable effect in their PhD project (which was a collaboration with The University Hospital of Northern Norway and the University of Tromsø).

The effect was this: A chemical compound that could inactivate bacterial resistance enzymes, thus preserving the effect of common antibiotics.

In 2019, Rongved established AdjuTec Pharma to commercialize his invention, which he called the ZinChel technology. The first drug candidate was called APC148 and targets one of two main resistance enzyme families, the metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs). APC148 is the lead product of AdjuTec in preclinical development, planning for clinical trials in healthy volunteers next year.

AdjuTec has been heavily supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) from the start, and with private investors also on board, the company can now develop its pharmaceutical projects and hire the right people. The company was recently awarded financial support from the City of Oslo, an industry innovation project (IPN) from NRC as well as Eurostars to kick-start the new APC247 preclinical program.

A new drug candidate

During the summer of 2021, AdjuTec designed a new substance that works on a broader spectrum of bacteria compared to APC148. This next-generation compound is called APC247. It is based on a different technology that shows promise in inhibiting both the main resistance families, the prior mentioned MBLs and the serine-beta-lactamases (SBLs).

Both AdjuTec products will be administered intravenously to patients in combination with antibiotics. If successful, and with various regulatory fast tracks, AdjuTec expects that the new drug candidate can be ready for market in five years.

Read more about AdjuTec and their progress on their homepage.

 

Bjarte Håvik is the dedicated competence broker for digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and life sciences. He is also responsible for innovation and collaboration in The Life Science Cluster. Photo: The Life Science Cluster.

Our new competence broker

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Man with glasses looking into camera in front of wooden wall

The Life Science Cluster and Oslo Cancer Cluster are collaborating on the competence broker-service for Oslo-based companies.

Meet our new research and industry facilitator aka competence broker for Oslo-based companies. Bjarte Håvik is the dedicated competence broker for digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and life sciences. He is also responsible for innovation and collaboration in The Life Science Cluster.

“As a competence broker for Oslo it is my ambition to match new ideas with the best research partners and public funding mechanism,” said Bjarte Håvik, competence broker for digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and life sciences.

International from day one

Before he joined The Life Science Cluster, Bjarte Håvik served as Norway´s Counselor for Research, Technology, and Higher Education in North America – integrating education, research, and innovation in comprehensive transatlantic collaborations. Emerging technologies and cross-sector partnerships have been key topics driving new collaborations. He also has a background from the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills with a focus on lifelong learning, transferable skills, broader impact, and non-academic jobs.

“Today, research-based innovation is key for a competitive and sustainable business. Being an early startup or an established business, a well-adapted research, development, and innovation strategy is needed as early as possible. The competitive stage is international from day one. As a competence broker the aim is to give new ideas from Oslo-based businesses the best start possible,” said Håvik.

Bjarte has a PhD-degree in molecular biology. Through a 15-year research career, he studied the neuronal system with a perspective from several life science disciplines, including molecular embryology, oncology, cognition, and biological psychiatry using a variety of technologies and model systems.

What a competence broker can do

A competence broker (from the Norwegian word kompetansemegler) is an agent for connecting research and industry, as well as a conveyor of expertise. The goal is to strengthen the research-based business development in Oslo and to mobilise more research-based innovation in the innovation districts of Oslo.

“The competence broker assists applicants in qualifying for the Oslo Regional Research Fund RRF (Oslo) – a funding program aimed to strengthen the region’s capability for innovation and the international competitiveness. In addition, the competence brokers provide valuable advice on internationalisation and guidance to additional public funding mechanisms from Innovation Norway, The Research Council of Norway, and Horizon Europe,” said Bjarte Håvik.

The service is funded by the City of Oslo and is free of charge. Companies in Oslo with research-based ideas are welcome to reach out to Bjarte Håvik or one of his competence broker colleagues in Oslo.

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