Research projects 2015

Research projects with high scientific potential

Grants totaling SEK 759 million for 25 research projects considered to be of the highest international class, and offering potential for future scientific breakthroughs.

Most of the funding is destined for basic research projects in the fields of medicine, technology and the natural sciences.

New ways of treating cancer, new treatment methods and drugs to combat infectious diseases, new knowledge about how humans have developed the ability to learn, and new understanding of catalytic reactions at atomic level are some examples of the research projects being supported

Medicine

Project: “Deciphering antigen-presenting cell subset function and regulation in chronic and acute bacterial infections – Relevance for vaccines and immune therapy”

Grant: SEK 41,460,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor William Agace, Lund University

Exploring the secret weaponry of bacteria

Project: “Towards control of formation and resolution of edema by deciphering mechanisms of vascular leak and lymphatic function”

Grant: SEK 59,985,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Christer Betsholtz, Uppsala University

Mapping the molecular mechanisms causing swelling – edema​

Project: “Cancer redox-targeting redox pathways for improved cancer therapy”

Grant: SEK 43,750,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Elias Arnér, Karolinska Institutet

On the trail of more effective cancer therapy

Project: “Cis-regulatory logic of the mouse brain transcriptome”

Grant: SEK 26,800,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Sten Linnarsson, Karolinska Institutet

Creating an atlas of the brain

Project: “Molecular mechanisms of early development”

Grant: SEK 17,000,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Juha Kere, Karolinska Institutet

Mapping genes controlling an embryo’s early days​

Project: “Systems precision medicine platform to optimize therapies for cancer patients: acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and beyond”

Grant: SEK 46,000,000
Principal investigator: Professor Olli Kallioniemi, Karolinska Institutet

Tailoring cancer therapies

Natural sciences

Project: “Evolutionary transitions in humans – From nature to culture”

Grant: SEK 22,000,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Magnus Enquist, Stockholm University

Culture made us human​

Project: “Physiological branch-points with ecosystem consequences: carbon and water in boreal forests”

Grant: SEK 39,450,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Torgny Näsholm, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Carbon and water behind forest growth

Project: “Evolutionarily conserved mechanisms of stress response that converge on mediator and chromatin structure”

Grant: SEK 39,700,000
Principal investigator: Professor Stefan Björklund, Umeå University

Factors controlling stress in plants and fungi​

Project: “Single particle catalysis in nanoreactors”

Grant: SEK 35,890,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Christoph Langhammer, Associate Professor, Chalmers University of Technology

Using a minimal reactor to learn more about catalysis​

Project: “Atomistic design of catalysts”

Grant: SEK 33,530,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Magnus Skoglundh, Chalmers University of Technology

Bespoke catalysts to save energy

Project: “Evolution of new genes and proteins”

Grant: SEK 46,770,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Dan Andersson, Uppsala University

Focus on fundamental evolutionary biology​

Technology/Physics/mathematics:

Project: “Characterization of new superheavy elements (lundium)”

Grant: SEK 38,260,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Dirk Rudolph, Lund University

Studying the world’s heaviest elements​

Project: “The boride frontier – Pioneering materials development of multifunctional metal diboride films by new PVD processes”

Grant: SEK 37,500,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Johanna Rosén, Associate Professor, Linköping University

Rock-hard coatings from challenging materials

Project: “Photonic quantum information”

Grant: SEK 34,250,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Mohamed Bourennane, Stockholm University

Securing confidential information

Project: “Harnessing light and spins through plasmons at the nanoscale”

Grant: SEK 37,995,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Alexander Dmitriev, Associate Professor, Chalmers University of Technology

Coupling light to magnetism at the nanoscale

Project: “Engineering the interconnected society: information, control, interaction”

Grant: SEK 25,350,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Karl-Henrik Johansson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Theory of the interconnected society

Project: “Exact results in gauge and string theories”

Grant: SEK 33,960,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Joseph Minahan, Uppsala University

Explaining confined particles 

Interdisciplinary research

Project: Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study

Grant: SEK 18,000,000 over five years
Principal investigator: Professor Björn Wittrock, Uppsala University

Grants for continued research

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

Grant: SEK 23,300,000
Principal investigator: Marcus Aldén, Lund University

Laser light measures without disrupting

Project: “Prevention of beta-cell failure in Type 2 diabetes”

Grant: SEK 17,600,000
Principal investigator: Professor Helena Edlund, Umeå University

Poor cleaning impacts diabetes, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases

Project: “Spatial transcriptomics of the brain”

Grant: SEK 25,000,000
Principal investigator: Professor Joakim Lundeberg, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

A one-of-a-kind atlas of the brain

Project: “Isotopic control for ultimate material properties – Phase III”

Grant: SEK 9,000,000
Principal investigator: Professor Erik Janzén, Linköping University

The quest for tomorrows high-performance materials

Project: “Discovering new forms of monogenic hyperlipidemias”

Grant: SEK 16,200,000
Principal investigator: Professor Bo Angelin, Karolinska Institutet

Genetic genealogy saves lives