The third OvaCure Innovation Challenge was held from the 12th to the 13th of May in Copenhagen. The 36-hour hackathon has one overarching goal – namely to create innovative research projects within ovarian cancer.
19 leading scientists were gathered as participants this year, moreover, a jury and three facilitators were present during the event.
Organoids are cancer researchers’ new weapon
Organoids are researchers’ new weapon against cancer because they offer a unique opportunity to understand the disease and test treatments more precisely and personally. The small, three-dimensional mini organs grown from the patient’s own cancer cells, mimic the tumor in the body. This makes it possible to test treatments directly on the patient’s cells and find the most effective one – without unnecessary side effects.
The theme for the OvaCure Innovation Challenge 2025 was therefore: “How can organoids improve clinical outcome in ovarian cancer research?”
Leading institutions are behind The OvaCure Collection
OvaCure has just launched The OvaCure Collection – an ambitious non-profit initiative to build the world’s largest and best public collection of organoids developed from tumors in women with ovarian cancer. The participants at OvaCure Innovation Challenge were introduced to the collection and asked to use organoids from the collection in their proposed research projects.
The initiative is created by a coalition of leading institutions in the Nordic countries: Turku University Hospital (FI), University of Copenhagen (DK), University of Helsinki (FI), and Auria Biobank (FI). The groundbreaking organoid expertise is developed by Assistant Professor Wojciech Senkowski in Professor Krister Wennerberg’s laboratory at the University of Copenhagen. In the first phase, it is the well-known Finnish tumor collection from Turku University Hospital that provides the patient tissue from which the organoids are developed. Ongoing conversations are taking place with other hospitals around the world wishing to join the collaboration to create the world’s largest organoid collection.
As mentioned, The OvaCure Collection was an important part of the OvaCure Innovation Challenge 2025, where Professor Krister Wennerberg and Assistant Professor Wojciech Senkowski were present as facilitators.
Funds exceeding 300,000 EUR
When OvaCure gathers the world’s leading cancer researchers in Copenhagen to create new treatment possibilities within ovarian cancer, it culminates in a major award show where the research teams present their new ideas to the jury. Hereafter the jury distributes an award sum among the most promising projects. This year one team – PRECISION-EC – received 350,000 EUR:
- EUR 150K in cash
- EUR 100K in OvaCure Collection support (organoids, materials, guidance)
- EUR 100K worth of additional grant application support (OvaCure hours)
We are very excited to start working with the group.
