The Development of Translational Cancer Research: In Honor of a Pioneering Professor, Ulrik Ringborg

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is published to honor Professor Ulrik Ringborg’s seminal work. It began around 1970, with a discovery phase in basic science with the Karolinska Institutet cell biology group, headed by Professor Jan-Erik Edström, devoted to transcription regulation in the giant chromosome Balbiani ring model of the mosquito Chironymus tentans.

Ulrik Ringborg moved to the clinic and in 1992 he was appointed Senior Consultant at the Department of General Oncology, Radiumhemmet, and Professor of Oncology at the Karolinska Institute. From 1993 he was Chairman of the Department of Oncology-Pathology, Head of the Oncology Clinic of the Karolinska Hospital, and later also Director of the Cancer Center Karolinska. During these years, he and his research group made seminal contributions to the understanding of the biology of malignant melanoma and established prevention and early detection programs, as well as immunotherapy.

He has served as a member of the Nobel Assembly and the Swedish Cancer Society. Ulrik Ringborg was also a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of EORTC and Member of Policy Committee of ECCO—the European CanCer Organisation.

Early on, he identified the gap between the innovative basic/preclinical research at the Karolinska Institutet and the clinical research at the University Hospital, and therefore focused on structuring translational cancer medicine. He was involved in the establishment of a new concept, the Cancer Center Karolinska, a translational cancer research structure, and in the work of the Organisation of European Cancer Centres (OECI) to quality assure cancer care/research environments in terms of Comprehensive Cancer Centers. He argued that, to conquer the increasing and challenging cancer problem, personalized/precision cancer medicine (PCM) has to be based on international research collaborations and improved infrastructure support, as well as patients’ involvement. The European Academy of Cancer Sciences (EACS) is now the organisation with this focus and with the aim to join the European cancer organisations to a common vision and strategy. Between 2009 and 2023, Ulrik was the Secretary General of the EACS.

This Special Issue will focus on the most recent and seminal developments in this wide-ranging fields of translational cancer research and PCM.

It will address four themes: 1) Advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment. 2) Birth and Development of Precision Cancer Medicine (PCM). 3) Prevention. 4) Infrastructure for translational and clinical cancer research.

The authors, by invitation, will be leading colleagues in the field of cancer research, specifically translational and clinical cancer research, most of them opinion leaders from Ulrik Ringborg’s generation and younger.

Dr. Ingemar Ernberg
Prof. Dr. Stephan Mielke
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• translational cancer research
• tumor cell biology
• precision cancer medicine