Research projects 2013

Research projects with high scientific potential

The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation wants to support and encourage some of the most successful researchers in Sweden and give them the best conceivable conditions for research as possible. This year 27 research projects with potential to lead to new scientific breakthroughs are awarded grants totaling SEK 770 million.

Medicine

Project: ”Maintaining Neuronal Identity – Transcriptional control of the aging brain”

Grant: SEK 40 436 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Thomas Perlmann, Karolinska Institutet

Cell identity loss a cause of Parkinson's disease

Project: ”Growth control and cancer”

Grant: SEK 38 919 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Jussi Taipale, Karolinska Institutet

Hoping to crack the mysteries of DNA code​

Project: ”Novel treatment of advanced melanoma by targeted pro-senescence therapy combined with immunotherapy”

Grant: SEK 33 623 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Lars-Gunnar Larsson, Karolinska Institutet

Permanently stopped cell division may pave the way for new cancer therapy

Project: ”Therapy for the future, disarming bacterial phatogenes”

Grant: SEK 33 005 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Sven Bergström, Umeå University

Molecules home in to disarm bacteria

Project: ”Metabolic disorders of the brain”

Grant: SEK 26 441 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Anna Wedell, Karolinska Institutet

Hope for a new treatment against brain disorders

Project: ”KI Cardo Vascular Initiative”

Grant: SEK 24 633 000 for a three-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Kenneth Chien, Karolinska Institutet

Producing the blue prints for the heart

Project: ”Virus host cell interactions and development of inibitors”

Grant: SEK 23 781 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Niklas Arnberg, Umeå University

Learning to beat viruses

Project: ”Linking social behavior to the brain”


Grant: SEK 23 162 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor David Sumpter, Uppsala University

Guppies show a connection between behavior and the brain’s evolution

Project: ”Next generation of mucosal vaccines for protection against infectious diseases”

Grant: SEK 16 231 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Nils Lycke, University of Gothenburg

They want to develop new drinkable and spray vaccines for mass vaccinations

Project: ”Discovering new forms of monogenic hyperlipidemias by whole genome sequencing in families with extreme metabolic phenotypes”

Grant: SEK10 846 000 for a two-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Bo Angelin, Karolinska Institutet

Genetic genealogy saves lives

Technology/physics/mathematics

Project: ”Plasma based compact ion sources”

Grant: SEK 38 515 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Tünde Fülöp, Chalmers University of Technology

Lasers will provide energetic ions for research and medicine

Project: ”Bridging the THz gap”

Grant: SEK 35 575 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Herbert Zirath, Chalmers University of Technology

New semiconductor needed for mobile communication of the future

Project: ”The new milky way”

Grant: SEK 33 970 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Sofia Feltzing, Lund University

New equipment shows the stars’ place in space

Project: “Energy-efficient optic fiber communication”


Grant: SEK 33 894 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Peter Andrekson, Chalmers University of Technology

They are building a future model for energy-efficient data traffic

Project: ”Zwicky Transient Facility"

Grant: SEK 33 440 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Jesper Sollerman, Stockholm University

Explosive astronomer builds space camera to chase supernovae

Project: ”Functional Dirac Materials”

Grant: SEK 32 050 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Alexander Balatsky, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Material for electronics of the future

Project: ”Strong field physics and new states of matter”

Grant: 27 900 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Patrick Norman, Linköping University

Theoreticians join forces to enable daring experiments

Project: ”WOV Working on Venus”

Grant: SEK 22 927 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Mikael Östling, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Swedish electronics will overcome the extreme climate of Venus

Project: ”Seeing organ function – patient specific image data”

Grant: SEK 24 502 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Anders Ynnerman, Linköping University

Visualizing heartbeats and brain activity

Project: ”Advanced non-intrusive laser diagnostics of high temperature environments”

Grant: SEK 15 516 000 for a two-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Marcus Aldén, Lund University

Laser light measures without disrupting

Natural science

Project: ”Rationalizing drug design”

Grant: SEK 40 374 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Mikael Akke, Lund University

Research team in Lund inspects pharmaceuticals in detail

Project: ”Architecture and functional dynamics of the cellular power plant” 

Grant: SEK 39 121 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Peter Brzezinski, Stockholm University

Studies of the cellular power plant using advanced physical techniques

Project: ”Molecular interactions controlling soil carbon sequestration” 

Grant: SEK 35 072 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Anders Tunlid, Lund University

Research on Earth’s carbon breaks new ground

Project: ”Inland water ecosystems in the global carbon cycle”

Grant: 31 036 000 for a five-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Lars Tranvik, Uppsala University

They are seeking knowledge about the contributions of lakes to the Earth’s greenhouse gas balance

Continuation grants

Project: ”New markers predicting glioma drug response”

Grant: SEK 19 000 000 for a three-year project
Principal Investigator: Professor Bengt Westermark, Uppsala University

First step toward new treatments for brain tumors

Project: ”Aerotaxy: a revolutionary new way to grow semiconductor nanowires”

Grant: SEK18 000 000 for a two-year projekt
Principal Investigator: Professor Lars Samuelson, Lund University

Nanowires can solve the world’s energy problems

Project: ”Isotopic Control for Ultimate Material Properties - Phase II”

Grant: SEK 18 000 000 for a two-year projekt
Principal Investigator: Professor Erik Janzén, Linköping University

The quest for tomorrows high-performance materials