Luís Oliveira Wins the Researcher’s Grand Prix 2024

Luís Oliveira won the Forskar Grand Prix, securing the fifth win in a row for Lund University. The competition involves researchers from all over Sweden and the prize is awarded to the candidate who best presents their research in an engaging and entertaining way. At the final in Stockholm, Luís impressed an audience of 550 students, several of whom felt truly inspired and are considering a career in science.

Using metaphors, visual representations and, most of all, his unwavering enthusiasm, Luís masterfully represented the Pereira Lab. He presented cancer and cancer research as two colliding sides in a battle, positioning himself as a hacker that forces cancer cells into the open by changing their code and surpassing their ability to avoid the immune system. For Luís, humor and popular culture are powerful tools for communicating science to a young lay audience – for example, his presentation used Darth Vader from Star Wars to illustrate the harming mechanisms of cancer cells. Luís’s research focuses on dendritic cell reprogramming, which can benefit the fields of immune cell development and cancer immunotherapy. In this competition, he explained how cellular reprogramming can be used to generate different subsets of dendritic cells, a strategy that provides a versatile weapon in the war against cancer. This prize demonstrates the importance of sharing knowledge with society, while having fun and inspiring young minds. Congratulations to Luís!

Photo credits: Erik Cronberg

More:
Video of the Forskar Grand Prix 2024 Final
Forskning och Framsteg
TV4’s Nyhetsmorgon