Participate

Explore oppor­tu­ni­ties to par­tic­i­pate in ongo­ing research from our lab, and if inter­est­ed, fol­low the links or con­tact the respon­si­ble researchers direct­ly for more details.

LUMINA Project

About the project:
Beyond the com­mon symp­toms induced by can­cer treat­ments com­mon­ly expe­ri­enced (e.g., nau­sea, fatigue…), some symp­toms can per­sist even months after the end of their treat­ment. Many sur­vivors have report­ed dizzi­ness, dif­fi­cul­ty in atten­tion and con­cen­tra­tion, or brief loss of mem­o­ry. All of these relate to the brain and to what is called « cog­ni­tive func­tions ». These func­tions are essen­tial in your every­day life: they allow you to recall where you put your keys, solve puz­zles, or focus on a task. In this study, we want to fol­low your cog­ni­tive func­tions through dif­fer­ent tasks mea­sur­ing atten­tion, speed pro­cess­ing, and memory.This project aims to explore how brain func­tion is affect­ed after breast can­cer and how these changes impact sur­vivors’ dai­ly lives com­pared to peo­ple with­out cancer.
The project has two parts:
  1. An online study recruit­ing par­tic­i­pants with and with­out a his­to­ry of can­cer from Fin­land and France.
  2. An inter­ven­tion study led Fin­land, where breast can­cer sur­vivors will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to try gen­tle brain stim­u­la­tion designed to help with think­ing difficulties.
This project is part of the Nation­al Doc­tor­al Edu­ca­tion Pilot in Pre­ci­sion Can­cer Med­i­cine, fund­ed by the Finnish Min­istry of Edu­ca­tion and Culture.

Con­tact per­sons: Manon grp-lumina[at]helsinki.fi
Study FAQs

Study 1: LUMINA-online

Help us under­stand how going through breast can­cer affects brain func­tion, while learn­ing more about your own brain!We’re invit­ing breast can­cer sur­vivors* AND women who have not had can­cer to par­tic­i­pate in a 100% online study that explores brain func­tion, diet, and well-being after cancer.

*  In this instance, you are con­sid­ered a « sur­vivor » if your active treat­ments (not includ­ing hor­mon­al ther­a­py) end­ed more than 3 months ago.What’s Involved?:bulb: Engage in brain tests to assess your think­ing skills:green_salad: Track your food intake for a bet­ter under­stand­ing of your diet:sleeping: Answer dif­fer­ent well-being ques­tion­naires (sleep, mood, phys­i­cal activity…)

Why Join?:heavy_check_mark: Get per­son­al­ized feed­back on your brain per­for­mance, diet, and well-being:heavy_check_mark: Help advance can­cer research and sup­port breast can­cer sur­vivors:heavy_check_mark: Con­ve­nient & flex­i­ble: All tasks are online, avail­able on any device

How Does It Work?:date: 3 short ses­sions (~25 min each) + 1 ques­tion­naire ses­sion (~30 min) over 1 week (Mon­day, Wednes­day, Fri­day, and Sun­day):desktop_computer: 100% online—participate from any­where!:link: Sign up in min­utes: Click here to check your eli­gi­bil­i­ty & get started

If you’re eli­gi­ble, our team will reach out with fur­ther details. Do you have a sis­ter, cousin, friend, or some­one close to you who might also be inter­est­ed? Invite them to join and share this expe­ri­ence together!

Study 2: LUMINA-brain

Did you notice a change in your think­ing after your breast can­cer? Try our neur­al cap, it may help boost your think­ing!This study looks at how the brain changes after breast can­cer and whether tran­scra­nial Direct Cur­rent Stim­u­la­tion (tDCS) can improve think­ing skills.

tDCS is a safe, pain­less method that gen­tly stim­u­lates the brain using elec­trodes on the scalp. Know more about the device and how it works here. The study runs for 11 weeks, includ­ing a 6‑week inter­ven­tion. Breast can­cer sur­vivors* are ran­dom­ly assigned to either real stim­u­la­tion or place­bo (no stim­u­la­tion), and nei­ther you nor the researchers will know which group you’re in.

*In this instance, you are con­sid­ered a « sur­vivor » if your active treat­ments (not includ­ing hor­mon­al ther­a­py) end­ed more than 3 months ago.What’s Involved?:brain: Gen­tle brain mod­u­la­tion:bulb: Engage in brain tests to assess your think­ing skills:green_salad: Track your food intake for a bet­ter under­stand­ing of your diet:sleeping: Answer dif­fer­ent well-being ques­tion­naires (sleep, mood, phys­i­cal activity…)

Why Join?:heavy_check_mark: Get per­son­al­ized feed­back on your brain per­for­mance, diet, and well-being:heavy_check_mark: Help advance can­cer research and sup­port breast can­cer sur­vivors:heavy_check_mark: Con­ve­nient & flex­i­ble: All tasks are online, avail­able on any device

How Does It Work?:busts_in_silhouette: 1st tDCS ses­sion guid­ed by our team (via video call or held in Helsin­ki):house_with_garden: 23 next tDCS ses­sions (30 min­utes each) at home:link: Sign up in min­utes: Click here to check your eli­gi­bil­i­ty, and our team will reach out with fur­ther details.

MARVEL Project

MARVEL Study

Join Our Study on Food Val­u­a­tion and Earn €15!

We are invit­ing par­tic­i­pants to take part in an excit­ing online study that explores the val­ue peo­ple asso­ciate with var­i­ous com­mon food snacks. This research is designed to under­stand eat­ing behav­iors and how they might change under dif­fer­ent conditions.

What’s Involved?

  • Ses­sion 1: Start the task nei­ther hun­gry nor full (at least 1 hour fast­ed). You’ll rate pic­tures of food on a com­put­er screen and answer ques­tion­naires for approx­i­mate­ly 1.5 hours.
  • Ses­sion 2: Begin the task after fast­ing for at least 4 hours. You’ll bid on the same food items for 10 minutes.
  • Final Step (Option­al): Vis­it our facil­i­ties for a 10–15 minute body measurement.

Why Join?

  • Com­pen­sa­tion: Earn €15 (tax­able income) for your participation.
  • Con­ve­nience: 2/3 ses­sions are con­duct­ed online, so you can par­tic­i­pate from the com­fort of your home.
  • Con­tri­bu­tion: Help advance our under­stand­ing of food pref­er­ences and con­tribute to impor­tant research.

Eli­gi­bil­i­ty Criteria:

  • Aged 18–45 years
  • Res­i­dent of Fin­land for at least 5 years
  • Flu­ent in English
  • No seri­ous med­ical (e.g., can­cer, chron­ic back pain), visu­al impair­ments, or col­or blindness
  • No dietary restric­tions, food aller­gies, or sensitivities
  • No implant­ed med­ical devices (e.g., pacemaker)
  • No advanced degrees in nutri­tion (e.g., Master’s or equivalent)
  • Smok­ing less than 20 cig­a­rettes a week or using nico­tine patch­es (snus)

How to Par­tic­i­pate: If you’re inter­est­ed in par­tic­i­pat­ing, please com­plete this sur­vey. If you are eli­gi­ble, you will get an email with all the infor­ma­tion to com­plete the study.

Do you know some­one who might also be inter­est­ed? Feel free to share this oppor­tu­ni­ty with them!

Con­tact per­son: Arsene Kanyamib­wa at arsene.kanyamibwa[at]helsinki.fi