Ella Äng receives the Assar Gabrielsson Award for clinical research
Ella Äng is one of three researchers receiving awards from the Assar Gabrielsson Foundation in 2026. She receives the prize in the category Clinical Research. Each award recipient is granted SEK 100,000 in additional research funding administered by the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.
The other award recipients are Louise Carstam, also in the category Clinical Research, and Ketan Thomare in the category Basic Science. All three completed their doctoral degrees at the University of Gothenburg.
From "Motivations 2026" for Ella Äng
The award citation states, among other things, that Ella Äng receives the prize “For clinically important and well-executed research on the role of precision medicine analyses in non-small cell lung cancer. The studies provide new knowledge on how these tumors can be more accurately classified to support treatment decisions.”
Research on precision medicine
“Ella Äng’s research focuses on prognostic and predictive biomarkers to guide treatment selection, as well as translational approaches from bench to bedside, with the aim of translating research findings into improved patient care. She defended her thesis in November 2025 on KRAS-mutated non-small cell lung cancer,” says Eva Forssell Aronsson, professor at the Institute of Clinical Sciences and member of the Assar Gabrielsson Foundation.
Ella Äng is a clinical oncologist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. She is currently conducting a postdoctoral project aimed at improving treatment strategies for recurrent or progressive lung cancer, in collaboration with Professor Johan Botling at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg.
" Receiving this award is, of course, very exciting. It feels like confirmation that the research I have conducted is important, says Ella Äng".
Continuing the research
How do you plan to use the award funding?
" The funding will support my postdoctoral project, TIDE-lung, where I will further investigate how treatment can be more precisely tailored even after first-line therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. I am conducting this project together with Professor Johan Botling".
How have you continued the research that formed the basis of your thesis?
"This autumn, I will continue investigating my findings from the thesis using our national lung cancer registry. If the results are confirmed, they could influence clinical practice. I will also continue investigating the importance of KRAS and LRP1B as predictive markers for immunotherapy".
Text: Susanne Lj Westergren
- Website of the Assar Gabrielsson Foundation
Assar Gabrielsson was one of the founders of Volvo. In accordance with his wishes, a foundation was established to support clinical cancer research. The foundation has existed since 1962. It primarily supports research projects considered promising but that have not yet reached the level required to receive funding from major foundations. - Press release from Volvo/The Assar Gabrielsson Foundation
- How changes in the KRAS gene affect treatment outcomes in lung cancer – Ella Äng’s thesis