Henrik Antti Lab

Henrik Antti's research group is studying how to use bioinformatics based on chemometric methods to create molecular maps, which simplifies understanding and interpretation of disease processes and provides an opportunity to find patterns of molecules that give disrections in these maps towards diagnosis, prevention and treatment. In addition to method development, Henrik Antti's research group works together with clinical partners to adapt the methods for medical applications, primarily in cancer but also infectious diseases.

More specifically, the research entails a new approach to the definition of so-called biomarkers. The hypothesis is that multivariate patterns of several molecules, so-called latent biomarkers, should improve diagnostic and predictive information compared to individual molecules / markers. The ambition is to increase the exchange of information from metabolomics data (data that describe small molecules in biological samples) by continuing to develop the chemometrics-based bioinformatics concept that the research group has worked with and developed consistently for a long time. For this purpose, key factors are to be able to correctly identify and quantify many metabolites (small molecules) in clinically relevant samples (for example blood and tumor tissue) by means of mass spectrometry. And then to use the unique properties that multivariate projection methods such as PLS and OPLS offer for the bioinformatics management and analysis of data.

The focus of the research is on the process of identifying latent biomarkers, developing a correct and useful statistical framework for these biomarkers and developing software for this. From a clinical point of view, the ambition is to be able to contribute with latent biomarkers and predictive models that in the future will be able to form the basis for improved diagnosis and treatment. The focus area for the clinical applications is cancer diseases and then specifically brain tumors, prostate and pancreatic cancer. In summary, the research aims to reform the traditional biomarker research and contribute to the future development in the field of precision medicine.

The research is supported by the Swedish Cancer Association and Sjöbergsstiftelsen.