Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science

Life science stronghold

Where business and research thrive!

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Children’s brain tumours more diverse than previously believed
15/05/2012
Paediatric brain tumours preserve specific characteristics of the normal cells from which they originate – a previously unknown circumstance with ramifications for how tumour cells respond to treatment. This has been shown by Uppsala researcher Fredrik Swartling together with colleagues in the U.S., Canada and England in a study that was published today in the [...]

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Active lifestyle in elderly keeps their brains running
15/05/2012
New research from Uppsala University, Sweden, suggests that an active lifestyle in late life protects grey matter and cognitive functions in humans. The findings are now published in the scientific journal Neurobiology of Aging.

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Leif Andersson elected as foreign associate to the National Academy of Sciences (USA)
02/05/2012
Leif Andersson elected as foreign associate to the National Academy of Sciences (USA)

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Genes shed light on spread of agriculture in Stone Age Europe
01/05/2012
One of the most debated developments in human history is the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. This week’s edition of Science presents the genetic findings of a Swedish-Danish research team, which show that agriculture spread to Northern Europe via migration from Southern Europe.

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News room

Meet our ambassadors

Katarina Le Blanc

PROFESSOR IN CLINICAL STEM CELL RESEARCH AT THE DEPARTMENT OF LABORATORY MEDICINE, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

Professor Le Blanc’s research focuses on the functions of mesenchymal stem cells produced in the bone marrow. She has shown that these stem cells, by mechanisms that include secreting large amounts of growth factors, also seem to be able to inhibit immune reactions. They could, therefore, if given together with blood stem cells, reduce the risk of rejection after transplantation in patients with leukaemia, as well as reducing the risk of serious graft-versus-host reactions.

Professor Le Blanc is the chairman of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Developmental Committee, a member of the Executive Advisory Committee, Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) and of the International Society for Cellular Therapy, Graft Evaluation Committee.

She has received a number of awards including the prestigious Tobias Prize, a prize awarded byThe Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2008.
Lena Claesson-Welsh

PROFESSOR AT THE DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS AND PATHOLOGY, RUDBECK LABORATORY, UPPSALA UNIVERSITY

Professor Claesson-Welsh is heading the vascular biology group’s research focusing on studying the mechanism of action of angiogenic growth factors as well as angiogenesis inhibitors, something which is relevant in a number of diseases, such as cancer, psoriasis, retinopathies and inflammatory diseases. They have identified a number of factors and sites on a molecular level involved in the regulation of angiogenesis and the aims of the research is to understand how angiogenesis is induced, but also how angiogenesis can be turned off.
Lovisa Afzelius

Project Director / Externalisation Director

In the role as Project Director Lovisa Afzelius lead Parkinson Disease Project Teams at AstraZeneca R&D. The role encompasses responsibility from early lead optimization until Proof Of Concept in Man. In addition Lovisa Afzelius engages with external parties to identify opportunities for in-licensing of projects or programs within the CNS arena to complement the internal pipeline as an Extermalisation Director.
Urban Lendahl

Professor in Genetics at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Lendahl is a leading expert in the fields of stem cell research, developmental biology and cancer research. He is ranked by ESF as the 5th most highly cited scientist in developmental biology in Europe 1995-2005. Professor Lendahl is the director of the Linnéaus Center Developmental Biology for Regenerative Medicine (DBRM, www.dbrm.se), financed by the Swedish Research Council.

Professor Lendahl is a member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, and from 2009 deputy head of the Nobel Committee
Torkel Klingberg

PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AT THE DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSCIENCE, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET AND MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE GROUP AT STOCKHOLM BRAIN INSTITUTE

The general aim of Professor Klingbergs research is to understand the neural basis for working memory capacity by conducting studies of childhood development and cognitive training. Professor Klingbergs research has provided the scientific foundation for CogMed, a software company developing and marketing working memory training products for improved attention in e.g. children with ADHD.

Professor Klingberg has received several awards including the Butter’s award ‘for outstanding contribution.’ (from the International Neuropsychological Society, 2002), Swedish Dyslexia Foundation reward for outstanding research, 2002, Philips Nordic Prize, 2006 and Axel Hirsch Prize 2009 (from the Karolinska Institute board of research).
Thomas Helleday

PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE AND CHEMICAL BIOLOGY, SCIENCE FOR LIFE LABORATORY, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOPHYSICS, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

Professor Helleday’s career has been dedicated to developing effective treatments for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. His research focus has for a long time been understanding and exploiting DNA repair and DNA-damage signalling pathways at replication forks for novel anti-cancer therapies. In his new position at SciLifeLab, the work will focus on translating basic science into novel clinical trials (in particular new anti-cancer treatments).

Professor Helleday has won numerous prestigious prizes including the Carcinogenesis Young Investigator Award 2010, the Swiss Bridge Award 2008 by Swiss Cancer League and the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and the European Association for Cancer Research Young Cancer Researchers Award 2007.
Thomas Eldered

CEO & Managing Director, Recipharm AB

In 1995, Mr Eldered, together with his partner Lars Backsell saw the potential when one of Pharmacia’s tablet factories in Stockholm was due for closure and staged a management buyout. Since then the company has grown both organically and through acquisition and is now one of Europe’s leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations. Recipharm group now employ around 1, 800 employees and an annual turnover exceeding SEK 2.2 billion.

Mr Eldered has altogether more than 20 years experience from the pharmaceutical industry, 8 years with Pharmacia followed by 15 years with Recipharm.
Sophia Hober

PROFESSOR AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PROTEOMICS, SCHOOL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DEAN AT ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (KTH)

The focus of Professor Hober’s research group is to develop predictable and robust systems for protein production, purification and detection in order to further explore the function, localisation and interactions of human proteins. She is also Director of Protein Science within the Swedish Human Protein Atlas (HPA) program.

Professor Hober is also KTH:s Dean for the period 2011 – 2014 and member of the University’s leadership group. She is also KTH’s representative in Stockholm Science City’s scientific council.
Siv Andersson

Professor in Molecular Evolution at the Department of Evolution, Genomics and Systematics, Uppsala University

Professor Andersson’s research team were first in Sweden to publish a fully sequenced genome, the typhus pathogen genome (published in Nature 1998) and subsequently, sequencing of several additional microbial genomes has followed. The goal is to understand the mechanisms and selective forces driving bacterial adaptations to vertebrates and invertebrates. A particular focus of interest is on the evolution of human infectious diseases by comparative genome analyses of pathogens and their closely related non-pathogenic species.

Professor Andersson was elected a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) in 2000, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2004 and the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences (KVA) in 2005. She was the elected President of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) during 2009-2011 and has received the Goran Gustafsson Prize in Molecular Biology from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences.
Sara von Arnold

Professor in Cell Biology of Forest Trees at the Department of Plant Biology and Forest Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Professor von Arnold’s reseach comprise identification of genes and processes involved in the development of Norway spruce and Scots pine during their life cycles. A current project led by her aims at improving yield for biomass production of Salix, a fast growing plant, and also this plant’s resistance and tolerance against insect pests and pathogens.

Professor von Arnold is the receiver of excellence support from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences for the period 2009-2014 (12 miljon SEK). She is currently the President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and is a member of the Board of the Royal Society of Science in Uppsala since 2006.

Professor von Arnold has received the Linneaus´price from ”Fysiografiska sällskapet i Lund” and a Honorary doctorate at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
SANJEEVI CARANI

Associate professor, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet

Doctor Sanjeevi’s main research interest lies in the understanding of the role of immunogenetic factors for the etiology of Diabetes, especially that of Autoimmune diabetes. Dr. Sanjeevi is Karolinska Institutet’s coordinator for interactions with Indian research institutes and life science companies. He also serves as senior advisor to ‘InvestSweden’, the government agency that promotes Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Sweden. Thanks to his network with Indian scientists and companies, he has been instrumental in setting up a number of collaboration arrangements and FDI’s between life science actors in Sweden and India.
Sándor Belák

Professor and Head of the Joint Research and Development Division of Departments of Virology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and The National Veterinary Institute

Professor Belák is a veterinary surgeon and an internationally leading expert in virology, zoonotic diseases and molecular epidemiology. His research programmes comprise infection biology, influenzavirus, pestivirus and coronavirus infections, molecular diagnostics and food safety. He heads the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Collaborating Centre for the Application of Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods for Diagnosis of Viral Diseases in Veterinary Medicine and he is the President of the European Society for Veterinary Virology (ESVV). He is also member of the Board of the EC European Platform for Global Animal Health and the European Advisory Board for Cat Diseases (ABCD).

Professor Belák has been awarded several awards, including the ”Centenary Award” of British Veterinary Association in 1989, the “George Fleming Literary Prize” in 2002 and the “Thuréus prize” (in medicine, technology, economy) of the Royal Society of Sciences, Sweden, in 2004.
Rune Toftgård

Professor in Environmental Toxicology at the Center for Bioscience and Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Rune Toftgård and his research group focus their research on the molecular mechanisms behind tumors of the skin, breast and the brain. The group is mapping cancer-causing signal errors in the signal traffic controlling gene activity in the cell nuclei. One aim is to achieve a better insight into these signal errors and to develop drugs to correct them.

Professor Rune Toftgård is a member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine and is a member of the Nobel Assembly for Physiology or Medicine since 1998.
Pär Nordlund

Professor in Biophysics at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Nordlund is a leading researcher in structural biology in Europe. His group is also a leader in the development of improved strategies for structural studies of challenging proteins such as human proteins as well as integral membrane protein. Professor Nordlund is also the co-founder of the protein science company Evitra Proteoma AB and the drug discovery company Sprint Biosciences AB.

Professor Nordlund was awarded the prestigious Göran Gustafsson prize in chemistry in 2001, he is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science since 2009 and of the Nobel Assembly for Physiology or Medicine.
Per-Olof Berggren

PROFESSOR IN EXPERIMENTAL ENDOCRINOLOGY AND DIRECTOR OF THE ROLF LUFT RESEARCH CENTER FOR DIABETES AND ENDOCRINOLOGY AT KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

Professor Berggren is a world-leader within the field of pancreatic islet research. He has done pioneering work regarding the fundamental mechanisms regulating the stimulus-response coupling in the endocrine pancreas with several seminal contributions within the fields of insulin secreting pancreatic beta-cell Ca2+ handling, phosphorylated inositol compounds and insulin receptor operated signaling. In addition to developing novel concepts within the field of beta-cell stimulus-secretion coupling regulation, Professor Berggren’s research is characterized by a number of important methodological innovations.

Professor Berggren is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science since 2008 and of the Nobel Assembly for Physiology or Medicine.
Per Artursson

Professor of Dosage Form Design at the Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University

Professor Artursson’s research focuses on studies of drug absorption and disposition at the molecular and cellular level and on the distribution and function of important drug-transporting proteins in the human body. In 2009, he founded UDOPP (Uppsala University Drug Optimization and Pharmaceutical Profiling Platform), a platform for academic and industrial collaboborations in drug discovery with support from Uppsala University Innovation and VINNOVA.

Professor Artursson is on the editorial boards for the leading scientific journals in the pharmaceutical sciences and he is listed as one of the worlds most cited scientists in Pharmacology since 2004 (ISI). Professor Artursson has received several awards for his research, including, the Ebert Prize from the American Pharmaceutical Association, the Oroborus and New Safe Medicines Faster Awards from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Olle Korsgren

Professor of Cell Transplantation at the Department of Oncology, Radiology and Clinical Immunology, Uppsala University

Professor Korsgren’s research activity has been focused on making islet transplantation a possible treatment for patients with type I diabetes. This has led him into several different areas from the ontogeny of the fetal pancreas and the development of techniques to make human islet isolation possible in spite of the immunological problems involved in islet allo- and xenotransplantation. He is the Principal Investigator of the Nordic Network for clinical islet transplantation.

Professor Korsgren has received several honors and awards, and he is frequently invited to give seminars and lectures at international meetings and workshops. He serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He is also an inventor and has been awarded five patents.
Nancy Pedersen

Professor in Genetic Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Professor Pedersen is in charge of the LifeGene project. LifeGene is taking advantage of the unique resources available in Sweden, such as civic registration numbers and the registries of genetically informative populations and health outcomes. The project opens new avenues for studying the relationship between genetic and environmental factors for the expression and prognosis of disease.

Professor Pedersen has long experience from epidemiological research using patient registers such as the unique twin register. She is currently the Vice Dean of Research at Karolinska Institutet.
Muhammed Homman

Chief Executive Officer, Vironova AB

Mr Homman is the founder and CEO of Vironova, a company which was based on research performed at Karolinska Institutet by Mr Homman. The technology rests on interdisciplinary research combining virology, mathematics and image analysis.

Mr. Homman is a currently a PhD student in experimental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. He has received several national and international awards in recognition of his entrepreneurship and innovative research achievements. In 2003 Mohammed was chosen as one of the “Leaders of Tomorrow” by the Academy of Achievement, USA.
Mats Wahlgren

Professor in Infectious Disease Control, Tumour and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Wahlgren’s research comprise severe malaria and in particular the molecular pathogenesis of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria with a focus on the surface molecules of the infected red cell. He collaborates with scientists in Uganda and in a number of other countries globally. Professor Wahlgren and his team are involved in both the development of a vaccine against severe malaria and a receptor-based drug.

Professor Wahlgren has received a Fogarty Award from NIH, was named Harford Visiting Professor at Washington University and has recently received a Distinguished Professor Award from Karolinska Institutet and the Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg Professorship of Medicine from the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

Wahlgren has served as member of various international committees including the World Health Organization (WHO), Malaria Eradication Research and Development Agenda and MalERA, (Gates Foundation).
Mathias Uhlén

Professor in Microbiology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm and Director at Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm

Professor Uhlén is currently working on the Human Protein Resource Project (HPR), with the aim to systematically map the human proteome and generate a public knowledge-base for human cell, tissue and organ profiles. He is also the Director at SciLifeLab Stockholm. He is the member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science (IVA), the Royal Swedish Academy of Science (KVA), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and member of the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) council.

Professor Uhlén holds more than 50 international patent applications, is the founder of several companies, including Pyrosequencing AB (now Biotage AB), Affibody AB, SweTree Technologies AB, Magnetic Biosolutions AB (now Nordiag AS), Atlas Antibodies AB and Creative Peptides AB. He is a board member of several biotechnology companies and adviser to several venture capital firms.
Maria Strømme

Professor of Nanotechnology at the Department of Engineering Sciences, the Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University

Professor Strømme is a leading scientist in developing new nanomaterials and she has brought material science knowledge into the pharmaceutical sciences and into diagnostics. Professor Strømme is a board member of several foundations and organizations including The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (MISTRA) and is a member of the Royal Science Society in Uppsala and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Professor Strømme has been awarded several prestigious grants and fellowships. She is the only person from Scandinavia who has been awarded the title “young international scientific leader” by the American Academy of Achievement Summit (2005).

She holds 27 patents within 8 Patent families within the field of nanotechnology for life-science applications.
Magnus Öhman

Vice President, CRMD Sweden, St Jude Medical

Mr Öhman manages the European centre for R&D and Manufacturing of St Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division . The history of the centre goes back to the original invention of the pacemaker in 1958.
Lars-Åke Brodin

Professor in Medical Engineering and Dean at the School of Technology and Health, Royal Institute of technology (KTH)

Professor Brodin is not only a Professor in Medical Engineering, he is also and Associate professor at Karolinska Institutet and specialist in Clinical Physiology and Internal Medicine.

He has a special interest in aviation medicine and he has several patents in ultrasound based techniques e.g. tissue velocity imaging and non invasive wave intensity for evaluation off vascular stiffness. Professor Brodin is one of the inventors of Cardiotom, a 3D Mobile Gamma Camera by Adolesco AB. He is also actively involved in other industrial projects including Gripping Heart, a new diagnostic software concept in cardiology.
Lars Wallentin

Professor of Cardiology at the Uppsala Clinical Research Centre, Uppsala University Hospital

Professor Wallentin and his team have developed many new concepts concerning pathogenesis, diagnosis, risk stratification, and antithrombotic and interventional treatments in acute coronary artery diseases. They have pioneered the use of molecular biomarkers and new treatments concepts in acute coronary artery diseases and professor Wallentin has been the principal investigator of many national and international clinical trials of new treatment concepts in cardiac diseases.

Professor Wallentin founded the Uppsala Clinical Research Center and founded the First Swedish Competence Center for national Quality Registers in Health Care. This center is now responsible for more than 20 registries in different areas of health care in Sweden and internationally.

Professor Wallentin has received several prestigious awards, one of the most recent being the European Society of Cardiology Gold Medal for outstanding contribution to the development of cardiology in 2010.
Lars Klareskog

Professor in Reumatology at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Klareskog was responsible for original discoveries concerning T cell activation as a pathogenetic principle in rheumatoid arthritis. He is currently responsible for translational research in rheumatology at Karolinska Institutet and he has been involved in a number of clinical trial programmes for currently used biologics. Professor Klareskog is the coordinator of a large national research programme COMBINE with the aim to enhance collaboration between academic medical research, clinical care, patient participation and industrial development.

Professor Klareskog is a member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute since 1995 and he serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals. He received the International Carol Nachman Prize for rheumatology research in 2008 and the Söderberg prize for medical research from the Swedish Society for Medicine in 2010.
Klas Wiman

Professor in Molecular Cell and Tumour Biology at the Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Wiman’s research field is cancer and his team is studying novel mechanisms for regulating the tumour suppressor gene p53. His team has also identified small molecules that can restore the function of mutated p53 proteins in tumour cells and activate the apoptosis programme. One molecule is currently tested in a clinical trial.

Professor Wiman is a member of the Nobel Assembly for the Prize of Medicine or Physiology at Karolinska Institutet.

He is cofounder and board member of Aprea AB (2003), a company that develops novel p53-reactivating drugs for cancer therapy.
Kirsti Gjellan

Site Leader for Pfizer Global Manufacturing in Strängnäs

Kirsti Gjellan has more than 20 years of experience from managerial positions within the Pharmaceutical industry covering Discovery, Proof of Concept, Pharmaceutical Development and Quality Operations in Manufacturing.

Ms Gjellan received the John Mitchel Quality Award 2006 in Pfizer for being a change agent and a renewer of quality operations leadership
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh

Professor and Director of Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala and Director of Vertebrate Genome Biology at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA, USA

Professor Lindblad-Toh is responsible for the scientific and overall leadership of SciLifeLab in Uppsala. She has played a major role in understanding the human genome and genetic disease by leading the sequencing and analysis of >30 mammalian and vertebrate genomes as well as creating many of the resources and tools for canine disease gene mapping and applying these to numerous diseases. She is also appointed the Director of Vertebrate Genome Biology at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and a professor of comparative genomics at Uppsala University.

Professor Lindblad-Toh has received several prestigious awards including a European Young investigator award from the ESF, the Lilly och Sven Thureus pris as well as the ”Lilla Fernströms Priset”.
Juha Kere

Professor in Molecular Genetics at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet and vice Director at Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm

Professor Kere is responsible for the scientific and overall leadership of SciLifeLab in Stockholm and he also conducts his research at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet.

Professor Kere’s research focuses on the genetic mapping and functional study of susceptibility genes for common, complex disorders. Professor Kere reported the first two candidate susceptibility genes for dyslexia and a new G protein coupled receptor gene as an asthma susceptibility gene.

Professor Kere is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, and the Nobel Assembly for Physiology or Medicine.
Jonas Frisén

Professor in Stem Cell Research at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Frisén’s research focuses on stem cells in the adult brain, their molecular regulation and the process of neurogenesis in the intact and injured nervous system. One of the research questions concerns cell turnover in the human body. The research team has developed a method for studying human new cell formation using carbon-14 dating of cells and is mapping the pattern of cell turnover in the human body, work which is carried out within the collaborative project The human Regenerative Map.

Professor Frisén is a member of the Nobel Assembly for the Prize of Medicine and Physiology at Karolinska Institutet.

He is the scientific founder of Neuronova AB, a life science company aiming at developing stem cell-based therapies for neurological disorders in the central nervous system
Johan Schnürer

Professor in Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Professor Schnürer is a specialist in the biology and ecology of micro-fungi, with particular focus on interactions between moulds, yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. His research programmes include developing generic knowledge and technology for the safety assessment, fermentation and formulation of novel microorganisms for environmental applications, e.g. biocontrol, biopreservation, bioremediation and biofuels and also research program on sustainable biofuel production.

Professor Schnürer is Vice president for external research collaboration at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and a board member of SLU Holding and MicaFun AB (IPR-company of a scientists consortium).
Jesper Z Haeggström

Professor in Molecular Eicosanoid Research at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Haeggström’s research focuses on a family of lipid mediators called leukotrienes which, together with a number of other bioactive lipids including prostaglandins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes and lipoxins, are formed from their precursor arachidonic acid. Leukotrienes are involved in a number of inflammatory and allergic diseases, in particular asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and arteriosclerosis. His research has provided the basis for on-going development of drugs.

Professor Haeggström is a member of the Nobel Assembly for the Prize of Medicine and Physiology at Karolinska Institutet.
Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren

Professor in Infection Medicine at the Department of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Infectious Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Ljunggren’s research field is immunology. His research focus is on early immune reactions in infectious and malignant disease. He has been instrumental in the creation of the Centre for Infectious Medicine which operates in close proximity to the clinic of infectious diseases. Thereby, basic research can be rapidly transferred to clinical research.

He is also a member of the Nobel Assembly for the Prize of Medicine and Physiology at Karolinska Institutet.

Professor Ljunggren has received a number of research awards including the Young Scientist Award on Autoimmune Diseases (Premio Internationale Mallattie Autoimmunitarie) in 1991, ”Specially Talented Young Scientist Award” awarded by the Swedish Medical Research Council in 1993 and most recently the Tobias prize 2011.
Göran K. Hansson

Professor in Experimental Cardiovascular Research at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Hansson made the original observation in 1985 that the arteriosclerosis process has an immunological/inflammatory component and he has subsequently contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms behind arteriosclerosis.

He is currently the secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine and the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation. Professor Hansson is a scientific advisor to a number of institutes globally and he is or has been engaged as an editor in several international journals.

Professor Hansson has received a number of awards including Eric K Fernströms prize for young scientists (1992), Lars Werkö-prize for cardiovascular research (1998), the Dutch Eijkman-medal (2003) and the Distinguished Service Award of the American Heart Association. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and of Academia Europaea.
Gunnar von Heijne

PROFESSOR AND PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR CENTER FOR BIOMEMBRANE RESEARCH AT STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY AND CO-DIRECTOR AT SCIENCE FOR LIFE LABORATORY, STOCKHOLM

Professor von Heijne’s research primarily concerns membrane proteins, and he is one of the most cited Swedish scientists in the areas of biochemistry and molecular biology. He heads the Center for Biomembrane Research at Stockholm University which focuses its research on membrane protein biochemistry and protein assembly, folding, and dynamics. Membrane proteins are involved in a wide range of biological functions and are targets for a majority of the pharmaceutical drugs currently on the market. The Center collaborates with industrial partners including GE Healthcare and AstraZeneca.

Professor von Heijne is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1997 and is has acted as chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate at Åbo Akademi.
Erik Lindahl

PROFESSOR OF THEORETICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL BIOPHYSICS AT ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND PROFESSOR OF COMPUTATIONAL STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY AT STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY

Professor Lindahl’s research is focused on modelling properties and dynamics of complex biological macromolecules like proteins and cell membranes. His group has made siginificant discoveries on how proteins are inserted into membranes in cells, how ion channels open and close as a result of nerve impulses and how viruses infect cells. Some of the results are used in the distributed biomolecular calculation project Folding@home. Professor Lindahl and his group have been pioneers in developing extremely high performance biocomputational software through the use of single-instruction-multiple-data instructions.

Professor Lindahl has received the French Blaise Pascal prize, Sven & Ebba-Christina Högbergs prize from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences and Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research’s Ingvar Carlsson Award.
Christer Betsholtz

Professor in Vascular Biology at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Betsholtz research focuses on vascular biology, i.e. on how blood vessels are formed and the mechanisms behind their formation in health and disease. Formation of new blood vessels, angiogenesis, is observed in for example cancer, in conjunction with inflammation and can cause complications in diabetic patients. Professor Betsholtz has served on research councils in Sweden and abroad including Cancerfonden, Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research. He is also member of EMBO, European Molecular Biology Organisation.

Professor Betsholtz has received several awards including Eric K Fernström’s prize for young investigators in 1995, Göran Gustafsson’s prize in molecular biology in 1997 and Dr Axel Hirschs prize in 2010. He is a member of the Nobel Assembly for the Prize of Medicine and Physiology at Karolinska Institutet. As of January 2013, Professor Betsholtz will join the cancer research team at Uppsala University.
Carl Johan Sundberg

Associate professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and Head of Unit for Bioentrepreneurship, Karolinska Institutet

Carl Johan Sundberg is Senior University Lecturer in Bioentrepreneurship and a licensed physician and associate professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. His research group focuses on the effect of physical training on the human skeletal muscle.

As the head of the Unit for Bioentrepreneurship (UBE) at Karolinska Institutet, Dr Sundberg is also engaged in programmes concerning innovation and entrepreneurship.

He is vice-president of Euroscience and was the initiator of Euroscience Open Forum (www.esof2008.org), a large international science conference on science, technology, business and science communication. He has received several awards including a Certificate of Commendation for Communication in the Life Sciences from EMBO and the European Commission’s Descartes Communication Prize for Excellence in Science Communication 2005.
Carl-Henrik Heldin

Professor in Molecular Cell Biology at Uppsala University and Branch Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

Professor Heldin’s research interest is related to the mechanisms of signal transduction by growth regulatory factors, as well as their normal function and role in disease. An important goal is to explore the possible clinical utility of signal transduction antagonists.

In 2011, Professor Heldin was appointed vice chairman of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council. He serves or has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards for several companies and academic institutions, including the German Cancer Center, Heidelberg, Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, European Institute for Oncology, Milan, and EMBO, Heidelberg.

Professor Heldin has received several scientific awards, including Prix Antoine Lacassagne (1989), K. Fernströms Large Medical Prize (1993) and the Pezcoller-American Association for Cancer Research Award (2002).
Björn Olsen

Professor in Infectious Diseases at the Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University Hospital

Professor Olsen’s research interests cover all avian zoonoses, particularly vector-borne diseases such as Borrelia, tick-borne encephalitis and Anaplasma, gastrointestinal bacteria such as Salmonella spp, Campylobacter spp., and, during the last 10 years, avian influenza. He has carried out his research partly through several scientific field expeditions with the aim to study the occurrence and dynamics of zoonotic and anthropogenic microorganisms in wildlife.

Professor Olsen was the founder and for 15 years the head of Stora Fjäderägg Bird Observatory located in the Bothnian Gulf. He is an expert of OIE and a member of the working groups on migratory birds for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and for the Swedish National Board of Agriculture.
Björn O. Nilsson

Professor, President of The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA)

Professor Björn O. Nilsson is the President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) and he has a doctorate degree in biochemistry from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, where he today holds an adjunct position.

Professor Nilsson has served in a number of management roles in the Swedish biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, including as CEO and President of Karo Bio, a leading public biotechnology company, and as Senior Vice President of Biovitrum and Biacore, respectively.

Professor Nilsson was an important driving force behind the establishment of the Swedish Biotechnology Industry Organization (SwedenBIO) and he served as chairman during 2003-2006. He serves as a Board member of a number of companies. He is also a member of a number of governmental and non-governmental committees in areas such as science, education and innovation.
Bengt Winblad

Professor in Geriatrics at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Winblad is an authority in the field of dementia research and his research interests focus on the epidemiology, genetics and treatment of dementia conditions, especially Alzheimer’s disease.

Professor Winblad has been involved in numerous professional appointments including, co-chairing the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium (EADC) and presently chairing the Medical Scientific Advisory Panel of the Alzheimer Disease International (ADI).

He has been presented with a number of awards for his contribution to this research area, which have included the Swedish Society of Medicine Alzheimer Award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Medical Sciences Award, the Alois Alzheimer Award, the Swedish Society of Medicine Award and the IPA Recognition Award for Service to the Field of Psychogeriatrics.
Astrid Gräslund

Professor in Biophysics and Chairman at the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Stockholm University

Professor Gräslund’s research focuses on the relationship between structure, dynamics, and interactions of an enzyme (ribonucleotide reductase) and of bioactive peptides and their biological reactions and functions. The aim is to better understand the details of the molecular interactions that lead to aggregation and secondary structure conversion of the Alzheimer peptide.

Professor Gräslund is or has been the member of the board of many organizations including the Council of IUPAB (Int. Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics), the Swedish Research Council (VR) and she is elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Class of Chemistry, since 1993.

Professor Gräslund is elected secretary and member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, since 1996. She has received a number of awards and prizes including the 1982 Lindbom Prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the 1995 Arrhenius Plaque and the 2007 Björkén prize.
Agneta Richter-Dahlfors

Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet

Professor Richter-Dahlfors conducts two lines of research. One deals with the understanding of the interplay between bacteria and the complex tissue response as bacteria try to invade the mucous membrane. Novel technologies have allowed these studies to be carried out within the infected organ in real time, i.e. during the course of the infection. The other line of research, organic bioelectronics, aims at advancing our understanding of cell and tissue communication. The ultimate goal is develop more advanced systems and to put this technology to clinical use.
Agneta Bergvall

Chief Executive Officer, Kemwell AB

Ms Bergvall is the CEO of Kemwell AB. Kemwell group is a family-owned Indian company with the headquarter in Bangalore, India and has operating manufacturing facilities in both India and Uppsala, Sweden. Kemwell has recently made new investments in the Uppsala site, doubling the capacity.

Ms Bergvall has held various positions within Pharmacia and Biacore including 10 years within R&D as a chemist and software developer, 15 years as Production Manager and 7 years as both a specialist and manager within Marketing and 3 years as CEO of Kemwell AB.

Ms Bergvall is a member of the Board of two privately owned companies.
Akbar Seddigh

Chairman of the board, Elekta

Mr. Seddigh is the chairman of the board for Elekta, an international medical-technology company, providing clinical solutions in cancer care and management of brain disorders.

Mr. Seddigh is chairman of Innovation Bridge, (a government foundation for innovations support), Hedson Technologies (industrial), Blekinge Institute of Technology and Chairman of the SwedenBIO. Mr Seddigh also serves on the boards of a number of other Swedish companies and he has been awarded the prestigious ‘Golden Gavel’ for meritorious chairmanship.

In 1984, he founded the medical-technology company Ortivus, where he was President until the end of the 1990′s.
Torbjørn Bjerke

CEO of Karolinska Development AB

Torbjørn Bjerke has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry including roles as President and CEO of Orexo AB a position he held from 2007 until January 2011, President and CEO of Biolipox AB and Director of Pharmacology at AstraZeneca. He has also served as Executive Vice President of R&D at ALK-Abello.

Other appointments include Board member of NeuroSearch AS and Paris based DBV Technologies.
Ulf Landegren

Professor at the Department of Genetics and Pathology

Professor Landegren is an internationally recognized scientific leader in molecular detection and amplification technologies including parallel and localized DNA analysis using padlock probes.

In recent years his work has increasingly focused on the development of techniques for protein detection and his group has developed the proximity ligation assay for sensitive and specific DNA-assisted protein analyses. He is a member of EMBO and of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Professor Landegren is the scientific co-founder of Olink AB and co-founder of ParAllele Bioscience Inc and is the designated inventor of more than 20 patents and patent applications.
Bengt Ågerup

Founder of Q-Med

Mr Ågerup started Q-Med, a medical device company that develops, manufactures, markets and sells high quality medical implants for esthetic and medical use, in 1987 based on the research that he had carried out around hyaluronic acid. Since the end of 1995 the company has had its complete focus on the new form of stabilized hyaluronic acid that Q-Med has developed and patented. Today, the company is a division within Galderma. Almost 400 of the new company’s 4,000 employees are engaged in research and production in Uppsala.

Before starting Q-Med, Mr Ågerup has had leading positions within Pharmacia and Biomatrix Sv. AB (today Genzyme) and he has also worked as an independent consultant. He recently started NXT2B, a privately owned venture capital company. He is the Chairman of Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science and a Board Member of the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.

We work for Sweden’s Life Science

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science, Uppsala BIO, Stockholm Science City and Flemingsberg Science have complementary roles in the Stockholm-Uppsala region. We also interact and co-operate with SwedenBIO and other life science regions in Sweden. Read more about how we co-operate.

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Meet our ambassadors

Katarina Le Blanc

PROFESSOR IN CLINICAL STEM CELL RESEARCH AT THE DEPARTMENT OF LABORATORY MEDICINE, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

Lena Claesson-Welsh

PROFESSOR AT THE DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS AND PATHOLOGY, RUDBECK LABORATORY, UPPSALA UNIVERSITY

Lovisa Afzelius

Project Director / Externalisation Director

Urban Lendahl

Professor in Genetics at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Torkel Klingberg

PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AT THE DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSCIENCE, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET AND MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE GROUP AT STOCKHOLM BRAIN INSTITUTE

Thomas Helleday

PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE AND CHEMICAL BIOLOGY, SCIENCE FOR LIFE LABORATORY, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOPHYSICS, KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

Thomas Eldered

CEO & Managing Director, Recipharm AB

Sophia Hober

PROFESSOR AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PROTEOMICS, SCHOOL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DEAN AT ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (KTH)

Siv Andersson

Professor in Molecular Evolution at the Department of Evolution, Genomics and Systematics, Uppsala University

Sara von Arnold

Professor in Cell Biology of Forest Trees at the Department of Plant Biology and Forest Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

SANJEEVI CARANI

Associate professor, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet

Sándor Belák

Professor and Head of the Joint Research and Development Division of Departments of Virology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and The National Veterinary Institute

Rune Toftgård

Professor in Environmental Toxicology at the Center for Bioscience and Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet

Pär Nordlund

Professor in Biophysics at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet

Per-Olof Berggren

PROFESSOR IN EXPERIMENTAL ENDOCRINOLOGY AND DIRECTOR OF THE ROLF LUFT RESEARCH CENTER FOR DIABETES AND ENDOCRINOLOGY AT KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

Per Artursson

Professor of Dosage Form Design at the Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University

Olle Korsgren

Professor of Cell Transplantation at the Department of Oncology, Radiology and Clinical Immunology, Uppsala University

Nancy Pedersen

Professor in Genetic Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Muhammed Homman

Chief Executive Officer, Vironova AB

Mats Wahlgren

Professor in Infectious Disease Control, Tumour and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Mathias Uhlén

Professor in Microbiology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm and Director at Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm

Maria Strømme

Professor of Nanotechnology at the Department of Engineering Sciences, the Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University

Magnus Öhman

Vice President, CRMD Sweden, St Jude Medical

Lars-Åke Brodin

Professor in Medical Engineering and Dean at the School of Technology and Health, Royal Institute of technology (KTH)

Lars Wallentin

Professor of Cardiology at the Uppsala Clinical Research Centre, Uppsala University Hospital

Lars Klareskog

Professor in Reumatology at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Klas Wiman

Professor in Molecular Cell and Tumour Biology at the Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet

Kirsti Gjellan

Site Leader for Pfizer Global Manufacturing in Strängnäs

Kerstin Lindblad-Toh

Professor and Director of Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala and Director of Vertebrate Genome Biology at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA, USA

Juha Kere

Professor in Molecular Genetics at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet and vice Director at Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm

Jonas Frisén

Professor in Stem Cell Research at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Johan Schnürer

Professor in Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Jesper Z Haeggström

Professor in Molecular Eicosanoid Research at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet

Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren

Professor in Infection Medicine at the Department of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Infectious Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Göran K. Hansson

Professor in Experimental Cardiovascular Research at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Gunnar von Heijne

PROFESSOR AND PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR CENTER FOR BIOMEMBRANE RESEARCH AT STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY AND CO-DIRECTOR AT SCIENCE FOR LIFE LABORATORY, STOCKHOLM