Twana Alkasalias

I am an Assistant Professor and team leader at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health (KBH) at Karolinska Institutet, specializing in cancer research with a focus on the tumor microenvironment. My group investigates how interactions between stromal and cancer cells shape tumor initiation, progression, and therapeutic response, with a particular emphasis on gynecologic malignancies and breast cancer.

My research focuses on the tumor microenvironment, with particular interest in how interactions between stromal cells and cancer cells drive the earliest steps of tumor initiation, progression, and treatment response.

My team develops and applies advanced 3D and high-throughput experimental models to mimic early cancer evolution and to dissect microenvironmental control of hormone signaling in normal and malignant tissues. A key goal of my group is to translate these models into strategies for cancer prevention, risk stratification, and early detection in women’s cancers.

We study endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer, using clinical material and different models to understand how the microenvironment shapes early transformation and progression in endometriotic lesions. In parallel, we investigate how progesterone signaling influences breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer risk in healthy women with pathogenic BRCA variants, integrating experimental systems with clinical and epidemiological data to identify biomarkers and intervention targets for high‑risk populations.