Per Borgström earned his Ph.D. in Circulatory Physiology from the University of Lund, Sweden, and carried out his postdoctoral training at UCSD, after which he was appointed a Research Physiologist at La Jolla Institute for Expermental Medicine. Per Borgström is the founder of Halocyme (formerly Deliatroph Pharmaceuticals), which is currently listed at NASDAQ. From 1999 through 2009 he worked at The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, as Assistant and later Associate Professor. In 2006, he was appointed as a professor (20% effort) of the Department of Oncology, University of Lund, Sweden. Dr. Borgström became a part of the Vaccine Research Institute of San Diego in 2009.

Animal models are crucial to further our understanding of the mechanisms of (progressive) growth of cancer. Currently used rodent tumor models, including transgenic tumor models, or subcutaneously-growing human tumors in immunodeficient mice, do not sufficiently represent clinical cancer, especially with regard to metastasis and drug sensitivity. Preclinical tumor model systems employed to evaluate potential new treatment strategies should aim to represent the process and patterns of metastasis of their clinical counterparts as closely as possible.