This year, the Mats Paulsson Foundation for Research, Innovation and Societal Development awarded grants to eight outstanding research projects — among them, a project led by WCMM Fellow and Professor Filipe Pereira at Lund University. The awarded initiatives highlight scientific excellence and innovation with potential to address major societal challenges and drive development in the life sciences and healthcare sectors.
At an awards ceremony held on 24 October 2025 at Medicon Village, six researchers from Lund University’s Faculty of Medicine received funding from the foundation. Filipe Pereira’s project, titled “Promoting Reactive TIL (Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte) Therapy through Cellular Reprogramming,” focuses on advancing cancer immunotherapy through a novel cellular reprogramming approach.
Adoptive cell therapy with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has recently been approved for melanoma and represents a promising treatment alternative. However, current protocols expand a large, unselected population of TILs, resulting in limited efficacy. Pereira’s team aims to overcome this limitation by reprogramming cancer cells into type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1s)—specialized immune cells that can selectively expand tumor-reactive T cells with enhanced tumor-killing capacity.
The project integrates cDC1 reprogramming into TIL expansion protocols, enabling the generation of more effective, tumor-specific TIL populations. These will be validated in 3D tumor models and mouse systems, and eventually tested with patient-derived cells to confirm their clinical potential.
Through collaborations with Dr. Inge Marie Svane (Herlev Hospital, Denmark), Dr. Axel Hyrenius-Wittsten (Lund University), and Asgard Therapeutics, the team aims to deliver a next-generation, tumor-reactive TIL product that could broaden the clinical reach of adoptive cell therapies for melanoma and other solid tumors.
The Mats Paulsson Foundation, which owns Medicon Village, continues to play a vital role in strengthening the life science ecosystem in Skåne by supporting innovative research that bridges science and societal benefit.
“We are deeply grateful to the Mats Paulsson Foundation for their support,” says Filipe Pereira. “This funding allows us to advance our work in cellular reprogramming and bring us closer to developing more precise and effective cancer immunotherapies.”
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