Boundless Knowledge – Uppsala University

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BOUNDLESS KNOWLEDGE UPPSALA UNIVERSITY

“Uppsala University is home to outstanding research and research-led education. Our researchers and teachers are qualified to formulate the questions whose answers will help to solve the major societal challenges facing the world now and in the years to come. The University therefore has a responsibility to contribute with foresight to critical thinking about long-term development, to be active in democratic public debate and to help ensure that political decisions build on fact-based knowledge. The University is instituting a long-term strategic commitment to research that meets current challenges, but also lays the knowledge base for tackling future, as

yet unknown, problems. This commitment includes inter- and multidisciplinary research, research on conflicting goals in sustainable development, and AI and digitalisation. It also involves a broad approach to research in the areas of migration, green energy transition and precision health. The aim is to develop world-leading research environments that generate an international impact for a sustainable future.”

FROM UPPSALA UNIVERSITY’S INPUT TO THE SWEDISH GOVERNMENT’S RESEARCH AND INNOVATION POLICY FROM 2025 ONWARDS

Uppsala University Main Building

Uppsala University’s ultimate goal is for our research and education to make a difference in society in the long term. For more than half a millennium, our curiosity-driven quest for knowledge has created solutions to common challenges. In our time, we are determined to move forward in the same spirit with undiminished energy and to further strengthen our leading position.

The breadth of our research and education make us strong and rich in possibilities. Research conducted at Uppsala University helps us understand our society, makes the world a better place and improves many people’s quality of life – research that provides both new perspectives on fundamental scientific issues and knowledge that contributes to environmental sustainability, human health and social development.

Through boundary-crossing collaborations between disciplinary domains and with actors in the world around us, nationally and internationally, we can jointly build a better future. Academic research is an engine for innovation and utilisation. Creativity and innovation arise out of meetings between individuals and in the intersections between scholarly fields. The complex networks that now underpin collaborations –between research disciplines, between industry and academia, between companies and individuals – generate completely new demands for environments where research and enterprise can meet. New interdisciplinary technologies are emerging from scholarly research, whose complexity far exceeds the capacity of individual research groups.

Our current success builds on traditions of knowledge with deep historical roots. Carl Linnaeus, Anders Celsius, Olof Rudbeck and Dag Hammarskjöld are just a few of the notable names from Uppsala. Over the course of the centuries, many more of our scholars and scientists have played crucial roles in epoch-making breakthroughs that we now take for granted.

In 2027 Uppsala University will be 550 years old. This anniversary comes at a time of multiple and complex global challenges. With our strong basic research, unbounded interdisciplinary challenge-driven research and global outlook, we are well equipped to contribute to solutions. If you are interested in supporting Uppsala University, there is no lack of opportunities. Join us to help us make a difference!

ANDERS HAGFELDT VICE-CHANCELLOR, UPPSALA UNIVERSITY

BOUNDLESS SUSTAINABILITY

Global survival, biodiversity, a sustainable environment and energy transition are some of our great common challenges. Climate change is already affecting people’s everyday lives, with reduced access to clean drinking water and changes in the conditions for food production around the world. Biodiversity loss could have a decisive influence on the environment, including climate change.

But how should we respond to the climate crisis? And how can we achieve a fairer distribution of the Earth’s resources? The Earth and the development of life, natural and energy resources, environment and climate issues, natural disasters and sustainable development – everything is interconnected.

Shaping a future sustainable society that reconciles natural resources, economic development, social welfare, democracy, justice and cohesion with a sustainable environment requires research on economic, political, legal, social, historical, spatial and cultural issues. The sustainable society is a complex challenge that demands cross-cutting knowledge from multiple research areas.

Key issues include renewable energy, sustainable use of natural resources, the biological consequences of climate change, sustainable social development and innovations.

Uppsala University conducts research in all these areas – in cooperation between different research fields.

Transition to a fossil free society

One of the most urgent challenges in responding to climate change is the transition to a fossil-free energy system, in Sweden and globally. This can only be done by switching to new technology. However, the transition also involves major changes in society with far-reaching consequences for everyday life.

Energy research has long been a prioritised area at Uppsala University. The University has strong clusters in areas ranging from energy transition technologies, storage, fuels, energy transmission and energy efficiency, to research on social reorganisation and climate change leadership. Several of these initiatives involve collaboration with industry, which facilitates the more rapid translation of research breakthroughs into new, environmentally friendly technology.

“To move forward on efficiency, we have to change concept. Combining two solar cells delivers a much higher theoretical energy yield. In the EU project, we are working on combining silicon solar cells with thin-film solar cells. We hope this will be the next technology leap,” says Marika Edoff, Professor of Electronics.

The new generation of solar cells

The use of solar cells is increasing and solar energy could soon overtake nuclear energy at a global level. Researchers around the world are working on ways to improve efficiency. One of the approaches is to combine different technologies in tandem solar cells.

“If we want to have even cheaper solar energy in the future, we need a technology leap,” says Marika Edoff, Professor of Electronics.

SOLAR ENERGY IS regarded as one of the solutions for a sustainable energy future. However, collaboration is needed to get there. Marika Edoff is Director of the Division for Solar Cell Technology at Uppsala University. From there, she leads two major collaborative projects between academia and industry: the national competence centre SOLVE, which focuses on expanding solar cell capacity in Sweden, and the EU project SITA, which is developing the next generation of solar cells using tandem technology. Tandem solar cells are hot in research at present and represent a development beyond the silicon solar cells that now dominate the market. The current technology cannot be developed much further. However, it is possible to increase its efficiency by inserting a layer of a different material, which takes some of the sun’s rays and converts them into energy.

“Combining two solar cells delivers a much higher theoretical energy yield. Instead of struggling to achieve 30 per cent efficiency, we are beginning to reach a theoretical maximum of 40 per cent, which gives us greater scope for improvements,” Edoff says.

All over the world, an explosive, large-scale development of solar cells is in progress. Edoff attributes the increasing interest in solar cells to rising electricity prices and opportunities to earn money by producing one’s own electricity. Solar cells have become sufficiently inexpensive to be an option for reducing people’s own electricity costs.

“One great advantage today is that solar cell facilities can be installed very quickly. We need to do something about the climate now, and about our own energy production. Another advantage is that we receive free fuel from the sun every day. A third advantage is that solar cells are completely environmentally friendly in operation, they are silent and emissions-free,” Edoff explains. “The downside is that solar cells provide less energy when it is cloudy, which means this is not a very controllable energy source. Solar cells therefore have to be supplemented by other sources of electricity, such as hydropower, which is plentiful in Sweden.”

“Batteries will play a crucial role in our transition to a sustainable society. Our role is to generate new knowledge and drive development forward. We need to be relevant today while keeping our sights on solutions for tomorrow,” says Kristina Edström, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry.

Climate¯smart batteries

To manage future energy needs, we have to develop smaller, cheaper, greener recyclable batteries with higher storage capacity and performance. But if Uppsala University’s world-leading researchers are to take the next, decisive step in the development of more effective and efficient batteries, they need new analysis tools.

IN RECENT DECADES, the development of smarter, more efficient and more environmentally friendly batteries has been one of the great hopes for the energy systems of the future. Battery research is highly relevant for a more sustainable society, since energy storage is required for continued electrification and the implementation of renewable energy sources.

Lithium-ion batteries are very promising for future energy products, not least for electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage in the power grid. However, current lithium batteries are problematic from the perspective of resources and the environment. Global lithium resources are limited and the element is difficult to recycle efficiently. Smaller, cheaper, recyclable batteries with higher storage capacity and performance are needed.

Developing new battery materials requires research and here Uppsala University can contribute vital expertise. One of the University’s internationally prominent research teams is studying battery surfaces and new types of batteries that are tailored to control the performance of battery materials.

Battery research builds on an understanding of many complex reactions. In order to phase out

hazardous chemicals from the ecocycle, scientists are searching for renewable and recyclable raw materials to replace substances such as copper and cobalt, since the production of these substances leads to large carbon dioxide emissions. However, to take the next step in development, reliable experiments need to be carried out with more complex battery materials. This can only be done with the help of new technology and a new generation of instruments.

One major international project in battery research is the European initiative BATTERY 2030+. This started in 2020 and is coordinated by Kristina Edström, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Uppsala University. The ambition is to make Europe a world leader in the development and production of batteries that are sustainable, safe and efficient from an environmental and life-time perspective.

“Now that we have brought together Sweden’s academic and industrial expertise in nuclear technology, I hope ANItA can develop into a source of knowledge for society at large,” says Ane Håkansson, Professor of Applied Nuclear Physics and Director of ANItA.

New nuclear technology collaboration

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are expected to play an important role in the energy system of the future. This nuclear technology is the focus of the national competence centre ANItA, which is led from Uppsala University. After a start-up phase, several initial projects are now under way. The aim is to achieve a sustainable energy supply for the future.

“Bringing together resources from industry and academia has far-reaching benefits,” says Ane Håkansson, Professor of Applied Nuclear Physics and Director of ANItA.

THE COMPETENCE CENTRE Academic-industrial Nuclear technology Initiative to Achieve a sustainable energy future (ANItA) started in 2022 as part of the Swedish Energy Agency’s investment in competence centres in the area of sustainable energy systems. Uppsala University hosts ANItA, with Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Swedish and Finnish nuclear energy industries as co-applicants. In addition to nuclear technology, the centre’s work includes licensing and regulatory aspects, as well as questions about the impact that introducing new nuclear power technologies may have on industrial and societal techno-economic strategies.

“The research and development conducted at the participating universities over many years contribute important elements towards introducing SMRs in Sweden as efficiently as possible,” Håkansson says. “The goal of the competence centre is to develop a strategy for introducing small modular reactors in Sweden.

“Among other advantages, SMRs can be massproduced in a factory, type-approved, and positioned close to consumers, for example to supplement a district heating system when necessary,” Håkansson explains. “These small reactors are very similar in physical size to current urban thermal power plants.

The light-water technology used in SMRs is based on similar technology to that in today’s reactors. However, the safety system is different due to the use of passive cooling, which means that the reactor can cool itself in the event of an incident. Furthermore, SMRs can be placed underground or in rock chambers to protect them from external impacts. In addition, they do not need to be recharged with new nuclear fuel as often as a conventional nuclear power plant.”

Several projects are now under way at ANItA, with participants from academia and industry. The focus is on both technical and non-technical aspects of new nuclear technology.

“We’re looking at a wide range of applications for the technology, even beyond electricity production, such as hydrogen production and district heating, as well as nuclear fuel technology, project and financing strategies, and dimensioning of the reactor core, operation, etc. In addition, we have projects on nonproliferation, security analysis and materials issues.”

All activities at ANItA are conducted in collaboration with industry partner specialists. The energy companies Vattenfall, Uniper and Finnish Fortum are partners in the centre, along with the specialist companies Westinghouse and Studsvik Nuclear.

Biodiversity

The Earth is home to a rich and largely unknown biological diversity on which human life as we know it depends. Natural variation enables species and ecosystems to resist and recover in the event of changes in the local environment or attacks by parasites and pollutants. Biodiversity and natural ecosystems contribute to crop pollination, nutrient recycling and air and water purification. Biodiversity therefore serves as insurance for future needs.

BIODIVERSITY ENCOMPASSES ALL the variation that exists on Earth between and within species, natural habitats and ecosystems.

The importance of conserving and protecting biodiversity is emphasised in the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The human impact on ecosystems is becoming increasingly obvious, with climate change, urbanisation and pollution of natural environments threatening the range of species, their genetic diversity and ecosystem functions. Recent assessments confirm the continuing decline of biodiversity throughout the world. According to the UN’s expert panel on biodiversity, up to a million species are threatened by extinction because of human activities. The question of how to nurture and preserve biodiversity nationally and globally is a crucial issue in our endeavour to achieve long-term sustainable development on Earth.

Research on biodiversity is therefore key to achieving the goal of sustainable development for future generations. We need better forecasts of how organisms and ecosystems react to changed conditions and the spread of invasive species, as well as the consequences this may have for ecosystems

and people. We therefore need to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes that favour biodiversity and the survival of endangered species in ecosystems. We also need to explore adaptations in society to limit the human threat to biological variation. Which species exist and what conditions do they need to survive? To what extent can populations adapt to changes in their environment? And what impact does climate change have on the existence and distribution of species?

To manage the decline of biodiversity, an interdisciplinary approach is needed that includes social and political dimensions and that explores the governing contexts in which decisions affecting biodiversity are made. Evolutionary biology, ecology and physiology are three fundamental scientific disciplines that are of vital importance for understanding, protecting and managing global biodiversity in a changing world. The goal is to develop an integrated understanding of feedback between biodiversity and changed climatic and environmental conditions, and how these can be managed for a long-term sustainable development of society.

Anna Rosling, Head of the Department of Ecology and Genetics

“Major initiatives thanks to donations”

“These donations enable us to take major, long-term research initiatives. They make it possible for us to take on Linnaeus’s project of describing all living things,” says Anna Rosling, Head of the Department of Ecology and Genetics.

IN SPRING 2022, entrepreneur and noted property owner Sverker Lerheden resolved to donate SEK 100 million to promote basic research in ecology and genetics.

Grants will be awarded annually via the foundation Birgitta Sintrings stipendiefond to “specially selected, top performing researchers” attached to the Department of Ecology and Genetics at Uppsala University.

“This really is an absolutely amazing donation for grants to early-career researchers and it’s going to mean a lot to us at the department. The fact that it’s going to basic research, which is vital to address on a broad front, is very pleasing, since you never know what’s ultimately going to lead to the big advances. State grants often have a specific focus, but this will provide resources for young scientists’ basic research,” says Anna Rosling, Head of the Department of Ecology and Genetics and chair of the foundation.

Sverker Lerheden has made significant donations to research in areas ranging from mathematics, ecology and genetics to music and art, at several Swedish higher education institutions.

When presenting the donation to Uppsala University in April 2022, he explained:

“With this donation, I want to honour my wife Birgitta Sintring and, I hope, help Uppsala University to remain one of the hundred best universities in the world. The seminal figure of the University is Carl Linnaeus, which makes it a natural choice to devote the donation to young scientists engaged in basic research in sustainability at Linnaeus’s own faculty. My wish is for my initiative to inspire wealthy associates in the business sector to provide generous support for basic research at Swedish universities.”

Besides the investment in outstanding young scientists, the foundation has donated additional funds →

for establishing a competence centre for visualisation of hidden diversity at the Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC). Among other purposes, the donation has paid for an advanced microscope that makes it possible to study and describe hitherto unknown microorganisms directly in complex samples in 3D.

Several research groups at Uppsala University are well to the fore in exploring and mapping biological diversity in complex samples. They mainly study fungi, unicellular parasites, algae and other singlecelled eukaryotic organisms, i.e. organisms with a cell nucleus.

“We want to work on hidden diversity because we only know about a small proportion of all species. Among fungi, which my group studies, only between one and five per cent of all species have been described,” Rosling says. “Many of the most common species are still unnamed and we only know about them via their DNA sequences. We can’t describe them if we can’t see them. We need an image or a cultivation, and only then can we give them a name. The donation makes it possible for us to take on Linnaeus’s project of describing all living things!”

“The fact that the donation is going to basic research, which is vital to address on a broad front, is very pleasing, since you never know what’s ultimately going to lead to the big advances.”

ANNA ROSLING, HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY AND GENETICS

Confocal microscope image of an unknown fungus grown in a lab. It had previously only been known from DNA in soil samples. →

AI predictions of biodiversity value across Swedish forests. Red colours show high biodiversity values, blue colours show low values.

Using AI to measure biodiversity

All organisms, including animals, plants, fungi and the complex world of single-celled organisms, are part of our planet’s biodiversity. This biodiversity is diminishing at an alarming rate as our human impact far exceeds sustainable levels. For a more positive and sustainable future, we need thorough protection and careful management of the remaining biodiversity.

HOW CAN WE DETERMINE which areas are more valuable for biodiversity than others? And how can we even begin to quantify something as complex as biodiversity in numerical values that can be used for making decisions and planning land use? These are some of the questions Tobias Andermann of the Department of Organismal Biology is attempting to answer.

“My vision is to develop standardised methods of measuring and modelling biodiversity, methods that can be used to evaluate specific areas in terms of biodiversity,” says Andermann.

For this purpose, the Biodiversity Data Lab has been established at the Department of Organismal Biology. The laboratory hosts an interdisciplinary team of researchers with backgrounds in ecology, molecular biology, geomatics and remote sensing, bioinformatics, computer science and machine learning.

“By combining expertise from these various fields, we can map Sweden’s biodiversity and produce interactive models that can show us the expected value of biodiversity in each area of the Swedish countryside,” Andermann says. “This allows predictions to be made not only of overall biodiversity but also of specific groups of organisms.”

“We are living in truly exciting times, when we can produce biodiversity data with unprecedented accuracy and speed based on the DNA organisms expel into their surroundings (environmental DNA). In tandem with the rapid development of AI research, it is becoming possible for the first time to understand the incredibly complex interactions and correlations between biodiversity and its multidimensional environment. Here we can also take advantage of the latest advances in remote sensing, which enable us to model the environmental matrix absolutely anywhere with a →

spatial resolution never seen before,” Andermann explains.

He particularly emphasises the need to include the often overlooked dimension of biodiversity known as ‘hidden diversity’ in our decision-making. Until now, most conservation decisions have been based on what he calls “the very top of the biodiversity mountain”, by which he means well-researched groups such as mammals, birds and amphibians, where large quantities of data are available. However, Andermann says, the vast majority of species largely remain completely unknown. According to recent estimates, approximately 90 per cent of all species have not yet been discovered and described by science.

“These are not just species in some remote region of the globe, they are actually species living all around us, for example, in the earth beneath our feet. The inventories now being made using environmental DNA make it possible to map this part of biodiversity and produce quick, precise and comprehensive measurements of the diversity. As a result, we are able for the first time to illuminate this quite unknown, yet very important part of the Earth’s biodiversity.”

“My vision is to develop standardised methods of measuring and modelling biodiversity.”

TOBIAS ANDERMANN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AND RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY

← Tobias Andermann’s research group collects environmental DNA

Tobias Andermann, Assistant Professor and Research Director at the Department of Organismal Biology ↓

Illustration of 3D laser scanning data used as input data for modelling biodiversity. →

from earth and insect traps.

The challenge of climate change

Climate change and biodiversity loss pose serious threats to presentday society. Climate change is a complex societal challenge that requires cross-cutting knowledge from multiple research areas. Innovative approaches are needed to meet the challenges of climate change. Research on climate change ranges from nature and natural resources, biodiversity, energy and ecosystems, to psychology, economics, law, politics and society. How can we reverse the trend?

Niklas Zennström, entrepreneur and philanthropist

“I want to help solve climate problems”

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Niklas Zennström aspires to help solve global climate problems and is convinced that more research and education are essential to succeed. His initiative to establish a ten-year visiting professorship in climate leadership at Uppsala University combines these two ambitions.

NIKLAS ZENNSTRÖM HAS followed the evolution of the professorship, to which Uppsala University invites a new visiting professor every year or every second year, with great interest.

“I’m very pleased with the way the professorship has developed. The professors have been very successful, both in their own research and in involving students and researchers at the department. It’s tremendously important to influence students, only then can you achieve a large-scale impact. The ripples spread.”

Zennström has a double degree from Uppsala University, in engineering physics and economics. After graduating he achieved fame as the founder of Skype, where he was CEO until 2007. He now runs Atomico, a firm that invests in the technology sector, as well as Zennström Philanthropies, which supports climate research and entrepreneurship activities.

Zennström has taken an active interest in sustainable development and environmental issues for a long time. The recent wave of demonstrations on climate and environmental issues bears testimony to a growing awareness.

“I think the people driving this are mainly young people who are worried. It’s their future that’s at stake, after all. Having said that, purely economically and technically speaking, there are now better prospects of finding solutions. One interesting sign of the times is that many entrepreneurs today think about the climate when considering which problems to tackle and what sort of businesses to build,” Zennström says. “They invest in new technology and new types of products but also realise that some of these companies can be financially successful. Alongside this, we see investors who recognise that in the long term, it’s much better to invest in renewable energy than in energy that emits carbon dioxide.”

Zennström’s company Atomico has invested in many companies whose business idea is to provide products and services that use less energy or change people’s behaviour around transport and food.

“We see this as a really good investment that we can earn money from, while contributing to a better environment.”

For Zennström, investing in research and education is just as natural as investing in growing companies. As he sees it, these are two different ways of reaching the same goal – a more sustainable society.

“Education is the best long-term investment a society can make. Better education and more research improve the knowledge base and lay the foundation for innovations and for entrepreneurs who use science and technology to solve problems. All these things are interconnected and it has been very important for me to be involved in all the different dimensions.”

Zennström likes getting out and meeting students, and wants to encourage them to choose entrepreneurship as a profession.

“In a way, new entrepreneurs are in a better position to solve climate and environmental problems than established companies, which have a vested interest in carrying on in the same old way,” Zennström reasons. “I’m convinced that the need for climate-neutral solutions will grow over the next ten years. It has to grow.”

“Education is the best long-term investment a society can make to solve climate problems.”

NIKLAS ZENNSTRÖM, ENTREPRENEUR AND PHILANTHROPIST

This means there are also great opportunities for students and researchers at the University, particularly young people who have the future on their side.

“It’s rewarding in career terms, but also because you are helping to create a positive solution. It’s also a good idea to combine computer science, biology or medicine with energy. Uppsala University offers excellent conditions for doing this, with all its different faculties. There are opportunities here for interdisciplinary research and entrepreneurial thinking, which make it possible to get involved and have a positive influence.”

Focus on solving the big challenges. That was one of the messages from Uppsala alumnus Niklas Zennström when he took part in a panel discussion with an audience of Master’s students in industrial management and innovation at Ångström Laboratory.

Niklas Zennström with two of the visiting professors in climate leadership at Uppsala University, Kevin Anderson and Doreen Stabinsky →

The effects of extreme weather

In recent decades, we have seen a rapid rise in global average temperatures, mainly due to human activities. However, we do not live in an average climate. What affects us is the climate’s variability, for example through extreme weather events. What causes extreme weather events, and how will a warmer climate affect future events of this kind and their impact on the community?

GABRIELE MESSORI, PROFESSOR of Meteorology, conducts research on the effects of extreme climate events. He aims to apply interdisciplinary perspectives to the impact and effects of extreme weather events: public health, social sciences, and nature and climate science.

“Extreme climate events are already affecting us a lot and are likely to affect us more in the future. In Sweden we will see more events with heavy precipitation, probably more heat waves and extremely hot summers and fewer cold snaps. Sweden also experiences some unusual events that can be considered extreme, for example, rain falling on snow that turns into ice. This makes life very difficult for ordinary people, transport and animals. Reindeer aren’t able to break through the ice sheet to access food,” Messori explains.

But in other parts of Europe too, people are often poorly prepared, Messori says. He cites the example of the floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2021. These are all highly developed countries with professional emergency services, competent meteorologists and so forth. Despite this, they did not succeed in alerting the population in time or managing the whole extreme weather event. To get better at preventing and managing the adverse effects of such events, it is essential to have good basic knowledge.

The long-term goal of Messori’s research is to further develop an interdisciplinary understanding of extreme weather. He uses physical and mathematical analyses to illuminate how our communities are impacted by extreme weather today and will be in the future. His research takes in a range of subjects, using an approach focusing partly on collecting →

data from different sources, such as news articles and reports from government agencies, and partly on the impact of these climate events on public health. A third focus concerns the societal perspective – what does an extreme weather event mean for different parts of a society?

“We always start out from a physical and mathematical description of extreme weather, but also work on the impact of extreme weather events on the community. For example, my research group and I have worked to develop a database of the costs to society of various extreme weather events, and studied how one and the same event can have completely different impacts in different parts of the community.”

The research group has also studied how climate change creates large-scale movements in the atmosphere that can cause co-occurring extreme weather events in different parts of the world – in the current and future climate.

“Climate change affects all aspects of the climate system. It is relatively easy to measure the ongoing increase in temperature and its effects. On the other hand, understanding how climate change affects atmospheric circulation, i.e. large-scale air movements such as winds that determine how our weather turns

“It is important to chart the effects of extreme weather events so as to be armed with more knowledge for events to come.”

GABRIELE MESSORI, PROFESSOR OF METEOROLOGY

out, has been a long-standing challenge for climate scientists,” Messori says. “However, we see a clear trend with atmospheric circulation patterns that cause heat waves in southern Europe and more frequent storms in the north of the continent becoming increasingly common in recent decades.”

The fact that these circulation patterns leading to extreme weather in Europe have become much more common is both surprising and worrying.

“These types of co-occurring extreme weather events entail major costs for society, as they can cause many deaths and extensive damage to infrastructure. Previous studies have shown that extreme weather has caused tens of thousands of deaths in the last year alone.”

← Gabriele Messori, Professor of Meteorology, Department of Earth Sciences

BOUNDLESS HEALTH

The world faces great and challenging global health problems. How can we create preparedness to manage health threats such as antibiotic resistance, outbreaks of new viral diseases or increased incidence of cancer, diabetes, mental ill health, heart diseases and other major health scourges?

Research at Uppsala University seeks to prevent, relieve, heal and cure disease and to develop new individually tailored treatments that help people to survive sickness and live their life to the full.

Sweden’s comprehensive population statistics, coordinated clinical research and unique health registers and biobanks put Swedish medical research in a strong position in the global research arena.

A threat to public health

Every day, antibiotics save many lives all over the world. They have become indispensable in all kinds of situations, from basic health care to advanced medicine. Antibiotics are one of the greatest success stories in modern medicine and have played an essential part in the development of modern health care as we know it. They have paved the way for the successful design of advanced medical therapies where patients have a high risk of bacterial infections. However, the widespread use and misuse of antibiotics has resulted in bacteria developing resistance.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN if antibiotics completely stop working? Coming up with new, globally available antibiotics is not just a public health issue; it is also a critical factor for our globalised society.

Throughout history, infectious diseases have been a major cause of suffering and death. Despite striking medical advances, the rapid increase of antibiotic resistance and the explosive potential of global pandemics provide ample illustration of the serious threat these diseases still pose. It is estimated that more than a million people worldwide already die every year because of infectious diseases against which antibiotics and other anti-infection drugs are no longer effective, and this number is expected to rise.

Sooner or later, bacteria develop resistance to all antibiotics, so it is necessary continuously to come up with new drugs and diagnostic methods. However, the pace at which the pharmaceutical industry is creating new antibiotics and therapies is worryingly slow.

Producing drugs and diagnostics is a lengthy process that requires stable funding. Consequently, there is a great and urgent need to stimulate research to identify completely new antibacterial substances, find alternative modes of antibacterial drug development, and pursue promising projects in diagnostics.

Tackling the growing problems of antibiotic resistance requires research on several fronts, as well as increased collaboration between different actors, such as industry and health services, to produce new effective antibiotics and more precise treatments for infections. It also requires political initiatives and investments by pharmaceutical companies in new antibiotic development. Two people engaged in research on antibiotic resistance, though from different perspectives, are Dan I. Andersson,

→

“One really big challenge is to isolate molecules that have the right properties for further development.”

ANDERS KARLÉN, PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED DRUG DESIGN

Professor of Medical Bacteriology, and Anders Karlén, Professor of Computer-Aided Drug Design.

Karlén is engaged in the early phase of antibacterial drug development, in which researchers seek to identify molecules that have potential for further development into new drugs in collaboration with companies.

“One really big challenge is to isolate molecules that have the right properties for further development. However, even if it proves possible to identify such molecules and they have a bacteria-killing effect, they’re not ready to be used as drugs. That’s just the start of the whole process that will hopefully lead to a new substance that we can make available in the pharmacy or in health care,” says Karlén.

Karlén also coordinates the drug development platform ENABLE-2, where the goal is to help academic groups in Europe take promising projects a bit further along the road towards new antibiotics. Together they want to create a future drugs ‘pipeline’.

“What we want to achieve is to find new unique substances that are effective against new bacterial

“Unless the obstacles to developing new antibiotics are overcome, antibiotic resistance will continue to be one of the greatest threats to health care throughout the world.”

DAN I. ANDERSSON, PROFESSOR OF MEDICAL BACTERIOLOGY, DIRECTOR OF UPPSALA ANTIBIOTIC CENTER

targets. What we currently see in the pipeline are generally substances that are similar to those already on the market. They offer improvements that enable us to take effective action against resistant bacteria, but resistance to these molecules will emerge very quickly. So what we are really looking for are completely new types of molecules.”

Dan I. Andersson, Professor of Medical Bacteriology

“What Anders is working on, finding new antibiotics, is a tremendously important aspect. However, it is equally important to use antibiotics correctly. This is what we term ‘stewardship’, which means using antibiotics in a smart way, avoiding excessive use and not using them in the wrong situations,” says Dan I. Andersson. He is director of research at Uppsala Antibiotic Center (UAC) – an interdisciplinary initiative at Uppsala University for research, education, knowledge dissemination and innovation focused on tackling and finding solutions to the global challenge of antibiotic resistance from every perspective.

Andersson’s research focuses on diagnostics, one means being a rapid test that can be used to make a more accurate diagnosis so as to be able to choose the right type of antibiotic. Health care often uses combinations of antibiotics. In the best case, they have a synergistic effect, in other words, they work better in combination. However, they can also have an antagonistic effect and work worse than expected.

The research shows that this depends on the strain of bacteria involved.

“This means that for each patient, and for each infection, we have to determine which specific bacteria the individual patient is infected with. We have developed a test that can easily determine whether an isolate has a synergistic or antagonistic response to a combination of antibiotics,” Andersson says.

In principle, the rapid test can be used for all types of infections that are treated with a combination of different antibiotics. Introducing this test in health care could make antibiotic treatments more effective.

“With regard to our means of combating antibiotic resistance in the long term, I believe this rapid diagnostic method is one way of improving the situation. I hope that even more academic teams and biotech companies will get involved and recreate the pipeline that will give us new antibiotics,” Andersson concludes.

Anders Karlén, Professor of Computer-Assisted Drug Design

AI can provide more reliable cardiac diagnoses

Specially trained AI algorithms are making it easier to diagnose heart diseases, thanks to interdisciplinary research. Cardiologist and Professor of Epidemiology Johan Sundström and Professor of Artificial Intelligence Thomas Schön are collaborating on this.

“THERE IS RESEARCH showing that we cardiologists are wrong in one case out of four when an ECG indicates a heart attack, while the machine we have built is wrong in about one case in a hundred,” says Johan Sundström, cardiologist and Professor of Epidemiology. “It’s not so strange. If you’re a busy cardiologist or physiologist, you might interpret 20,000 ECGs in the course of your career, whereas this algorithm has received 600,000 ECGs and has an unassailable lead.”

Together with Thomas Schön, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, his team has developed AI algorithms to help diagnose heart diseases. Most recently, they have trained a so-called deep neural network on a large sample of about six million emergency room visits. In addition to digital ECGs, there were data on pulse rate, blood pressure, temperature and past medical history.

“Together we have managed to build an algorithm that can detect heart attacks very well, after some of my team were trained by Thomas’s team,” says Sundström.

He is in charge of the Anders Wiklöf Institute for Heart Research at Carolina Rediviva University Library in Uppsala. The institute was founded in 2020, thanks to a donation from Åland businessman Anders Wiklöf.

Sharing the same address is AI4Research, Uppsala University’s interdisciplinary AI research programme, led by Thomas Schön. In 2020, he became Professor of Artificial Intelligence, also as a result of a donation to the University, from the Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation.

Several interdisciplinary initiatives are under way at Uppsala University to develop the new technology, but also to discuss the risks now that the technology is beginning to be widely used in society. Who is responsible for decisions made by an AI tool? And will AI reinforce prejudices that already exist in society?

“It’s the same problem we’ve always had, it’s just that it’s suddenly obvious to everyone that this problem exists. You have to weigh up the opportunities and risks and manage them carefully,” says Schön. “It’s extremely rare for the worst to happen and it’s never the case that everything works out just fine, you end up somewhere in between. One important task for us is to provide a balanced and nuanced picture.” This is why an interdisciplinary

“Together we have managed to build an algorithm that can detect heart attacks very well.”

JOHAN SUNDSTRÖM. CARDIOLOGIST AND PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

approach is the only way to go, in Schön’s opinion. However, this requires both sides to really commit to the cooperation.

“For it to work in the longer term, it’s extremely important that both parties have a clear motivation in the cooperation. If all that happened was that Johan made the ECGs available to me and I solved the technical problems, it would be fun for a few months but no more than that. If both parties can pursue their fundamental ideas so that they cross-fertilise one another, things tend to work well.” Sundström agrees.

“I’m very pleased to have the chance to be here in Carolina Rediviva in this AI4Research environment. You meet so many exciting people who are thinking about similar questions and problems, but are approaching them from completely different directions.”

This is where Uppsala University has an advantage in being a broad university where it is easy to collaborate across disciplinary divides. In autumn 2023 two new interdisciplinary research initiatives started in the Beijer Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, one on the societal impact of AI and one with a focus on life sciences.

“There’s an enormous need for education in all fields. We also have researchers in law, ethics and the humanities at AI4Research. There’s a need to raise the level of expertise on all fronts at the University,” says Schön.

He is also involved in preparing engineering students for a future with increasingly large elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“We make sure they have a command of this technology, at least enough to enable them to assimilate new advances and continue to learn in future.”

Thomas Schön, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Johan Sundström, cardiologist and Professor of Epidemiology →

“The plan is to generate a significant expansion of research. I didn’t manage to get my brother to the doctor in time, but hope this research will help to save hundreds of thousands of people,” says Anders Wiklöf.

“The plan is to generate a significant expansion of research”

Thanks to long-term support from businessman Anders Wiklöf from the Åland Islands, Uppsala University has been able to establish a new centre for heart research – the Anders Wiklöf Institute for Heart Research – based on data from large-scale population registers and biobanks.

“In the Nordic region, 30 per cent of the population die from cardiovascular diseases. It shouldn’t be this way. I want to help change this and improve public health,” says Wiklöf.

IT IS NO ACCIDENT that Anders Wiklöf has chosen to contribute specifically to heart research. His elder brother Lasse Wiklöf died of a heart attack, just 63 years old.

“Lasse meant an enormous amount to me. Despite all my nagging, I never managed to convince him to have his heart checked. When he died I thought, if I can cope with this, I can cope with anything;” Wiklöf says.

Anders Wiklöf grew up in a working-class home in Mariehamn on Åland. His father was a mason and his mother had an eye disease that made her blind and unable to work at an early age.

“Fundamentally, I’m a working-class lad who believes everyone is equal. When I was growing up, we had food on the table and clothes on our back, but that was about it. I had no chance to get an education. I had to start working early. That’s not the sort of thing you forget,” says Wiklöf, who started out as an errand boy.

Today, Councillor of Commerce and Honorary Doctor of Economics Anders Wiklöf is one of the most successful businessmen of his time. Through his group Wiklöf Holding, the largest sole proprietorship in the Nordic region, he now owns more than twenty companies in logistics, hall construction, real estate ownership, trade and tourism. Wiklöf also has one of the best private art collections in the Nordic region, is a major shareholder in the two Åland

newspapers and the largest shareholder in the Bank of Åland. Wiklöf’s donations have now enabled Uppsala University to build up a new centre for heart research, led by cardiologist and Professor of Epidemiology Johan Sundström.

“In terms of our research, Anders Wiklöf’s donations have been absolutely crucial for the establishment and development of this focused, large-scale initiative for research in cardiovascular diseases. My ambition is that in a few years’ time, we will have identified new factors behind heart attacks, and factors that contribute to other cardiovascular diseases, so that we will be able to predict and prevent them in time,” Sundström explains.

Anders Wiklöf is following the research with great interest.

“For me personally, it’s fascinating to have the opportunity to gain a deeper knowledge of this vital area, through Uppsala University’s highly qualified researchers,” says Wiklöf. “It’s deeply satisfying to follow the progress of this exciting initiative, which could make a crucial difference in a great many people’s lives. This is something that I will remain involved in and continue to support for many years to come.”

The future of diabetes treatment

Diabetes is one of the major health scourges. The disease is increasing in prevalence worldwide and an estimated 640 million people will be affected by 2040. In Sweden, more than half a million people have diabetes. Most of them suffer from type 2 diabetes. However, among Swedish children, type 1 diabetes is the most common chronic disease – a disease that is currently incurable. That said, intensive research into new future therapies is in progress with the vision of one day being able to cure the disease.

“DIABETES AND ITS consequences have an enormous impact on the patients’ quality of life and are associated with serious and chronic complications of the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves. The disease also causes substantial costs for society. In Sweden, diabetes accounts for more than 10 per cent of healthcare costs. For as yet undiscovered reasons, the incidence of type 1 diabetes has doubled in the last 30 years and it continues to increase by about 5 per cent per year. Despite the great demand for more effective treatments and the great efforts made, research has so far failed to identify satisfactory methods,” says PerOla Carlsson, Professor of Medical Cell Biology and Director of Uppsala Diabetes Centre.

There are two main approaches in research into future cures for diabetes, Carlsson says.

“One strategy is to try to stop the immune system attacking the insulin-producing cells, which requires detecting the disease at an early stage when there are still cells to be saved. The second strategy is to replace lost insulin-producing cells with new insulinproducing cells. Here, of course, the stem cell concept has led to the possibility of taking completely different cell types and turning them into immature cells that can then be developed into insulin-producing cells that can be inserted into the patient and replace the lost cells.”

Carlsson co-founded the Uppsala Diabetes Centre in early 2021 as an interdisciplinary centre for diabetes research at Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). There are many questions for research, such as why type 1 diabetes occurs and how to stop the disease process.

“The situation is similar in type 2 diabetes: we have no treatment that fundamentally changes the

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course of the disease, it is still a progressive disease where blood sugar continues to rise over the years. In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, we need something to change the focus, and this is research that I regard as a priority.”

Uppsala Diabetes Centre takes a broad approach. It brings together experimental and clinical researchers, and researchers from different disciplinary domains.

“The idea is to establish an integrated research environment that incorporates two of the University’s very strongest areas – diabetes research and drug development. Previous attempts to develop new methods of treatment for diabetes have suffered from a narrowness of approach. A new, broader research environment facilitates direct knowledge transfer from basic laboratory research via pharmaceutical development to clinical care. This opens up previously untested opportunities to develop new strategies and approaches for more effective treatments.”

One example is the research on the links between overweight and the development of diabetes in pets, another how AI and machine learning can be used to interpret health data. Apart from cooperation between different research specialisations, collaboration with industry is required. “Developing new therapies

“We are combining our forces to prevent, treat and ultimately, perhaps, cure diabetes. Within 10 or 20 years, completely new options and treatments will be available to us compared with those we have today.”

PER-OLA CARLSSON, PROFESSOR OF MEDICAL CELL BIOLOGY AND DIRECTOR OF UPPSALA DIABETES CENTRE

today involves huge investments. And virtually all treatments are classified as medicines. As a result, we in the public sector have no chance of developing those medicines ourselves.” Carlsson hopes for more rapid progress in the future.

“It’s been a hundred years since insulin was developed and it feels like it’s time for another major breakthrough. Personally, I hope it will come in the stem cell sector.”

“We’re always tremendously curious about our own species – homo sapiens. However, it’s important to remember that every species currently existing is just as unique as humans are,” says Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Professor of Comparative Genomics.

New insights into disease and biodiversity

Great challenges lie in understanding evolution, human diseases and biodiversity. The recently completed analysis of the genome of 240 mammals could lead to more precise therapies for numerous human diseases and new insights into the best way to preserve endangered animal species.

“Now we hope that researchers around the world who work on evolution, human diseases and biodiversity will use this unique dataset in their specific research,” says Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Professor of Comparative Genomics.

A LARGE INTERNATIONAL consortium led by Uppsala University has mapped and analysed the genome of 240 different mammals. The results show how the genome has developed in both humans and other mammals in the course of evolution, which mutations lead to specific characteristics in different species and which mutations can cause disease.

“The study has generated an enormous amount of information about the functioning and development of mammalian genomes. Moreover, we have produced data that can be used for studies of evolution and medical research for many years to come,” says the consortium’s director, Professor Kerstin Lindblad-Toh of Uppsala University and the Broad Institute.

The human genome contains approximately 20,000 genes that constitute codes for manufacturing all the proteins in the body. The genome also contains instructions that direct where, when and how much of the proteins are produced. These parts of the genome, which are called regulatory elements, are much more difficult to analyse than the parts that give rise to proteins. However, better results can be obtained by studying the genomes of a very large number of mammals.

“Our joint hypothesis was that if a position in the genome has been preserved throughout 100 million years of evolution, it likely serves a function in all

mammals. For the first time, we have been able to test this hypothesis on a large scale,” Lindblad-Toh explains.

By making a detailed survey and systematic comparison of the mammalian genomes, the researchers obtained information about regions in the genome that are regulatory elements and are therefore significant for the correct functioning of the genome. Mutations in these can thus affect the genesis of diseases or the distinctive features of mammal species.

The mammals in the study vary widely in their characteristics, such as the acuteness of their sense of smell or the size of their brain. The researchers were able to find regions in the genome that lead to some species having a superior sense of smell or to certain species hibernating.

“This has given us a picture of which mutations have steered the development of specific traits in similar or widely divergent mammals.

“Given the ongoing climate changes and the increasing number of environments modified by human influence, it is becoming more important to protect endangered species and maintain the richness of biodiversity. It emerged from the research project that red-listed species have less variation in their genome, which fits with their endangered status.”

The right personalised treatment at the right time

Precision medicine, or personalised care, is a relatively new but increasingly important concept in health and medical services. It encompasses diagnostics, treatment and follow-up that make it possible to give patients care that is tailored to their individual situation.

THE AIM OF precision medicine is to provide patients with care and treatment tailored to the individual, taking both hereditary and other factors into account, such as age, gender, medical values, lifestyle habits and so forth. Treatments are based on the individual patient’s unique conditions, including their genetic profile and specific biomarkers.

Precision medicine is gaining ground in highly specialised care. The advances derive from rapid developments in several important areas of research and technology that are ground-breaking in themselves, but furthermore coincide in time and can be combined. These areas include molecular biology, large-scale genetic sequencing, high-resolution imaging technology, gene therapies, biosensors, the ability to connect and transmit large quantities of data and the use of artificial intelligence.

In order to pool strengths and offer more advanced care, Region Uppsala, Uppsala University Hospital and Uppsala University have launched a collaboration at the Precision Medicine Centre in Uppsala (PMCU), which opened in June 2022. By means of crosscutting research and innovation, the centre aims to contribute to the development and implementation of

“Precision medicine has revolutionised cancer care.”

GUNILLA ENBLAD, SENIOR PHYSICIAN AND PROFESSOR OF ONCOLOGY

new solutions in health and medical care. The overall aim is to ensure that more patients benefit from precision diagnostics and precision treatment.

Extended gene sequencing has been used at Uppsala University Hospital for diagnosis of various cancers and the investigation of rare diagnoses for a number of years now. New generation sequencing (NGS) technology increases opportunities for more precise diagnoses and hence a more reliable choice of treatment leading to the desired outcome.

“Precision medicine has revolutionised cancer care. Advances in genetic engineering have allowed new drugs to be developed that modify a patient’s own cells to create a drug tailored to that particular individual. The new CAR T-cell immunotherapy is a prime example of this,” says Gunilla Enblad, senior physician and Professor of Oncology.

The treatment involves genetically modifying the patient’s own immune system cells (T-cells), which play a central role in protection against infections and cancer. The cells recognise alien intruders and tumour cells by means of T-cell receptors. Building a new T-cell receptor that is introduced into the cells via a viral vector enables the T-cells to attack cancer cells. This treatment makes it possible to cure some cancer patients who were previously deemed terminally ill. Uppsala was the first place in Europe to conduct studies, and this therapy is now an option in the event of recurrence of certain types of lymphoma and leukaemia, both as routine clinical practice and in studies.

“CAR T-cell therapy is also being developed for other cancers,” Enblad says. “These include myeloma and solid cancers, i.e. tumours in the lung, breast, prostate, colon, rectum and bladder, for instance.”

← Gunilla Enblad, senior physician and Professor of Oncology

Earlier discovery of cancer thanks to biobanks

In recent decades, it has become possible to cure increasing numbers of cancer patients. However, treatment for cancer is complicated by the fact that the disease can manifest itself in very different ways in different patients. This make it important to design future treatments based on each individual patient’s cancer. Evidencebased support for doctors in decisionmaking situations, in combination with personalised care, can have a major impact on patients’ chances of survival.

“THE VISION IS for each individual patient to receive a better and more personalised diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Realising this vision requires deep analysis informed by experience from earlier patients’ diseases,” says Tobias Sjöblom, Professor of Tumour Genetics.

Studies of cancer patients’ tumours, disease progression and response to treatments received play a key role in meeting the increasing demands for individually tailored care. Success in identifying both rare and more common characteristics that can be linked to tumour and disease progression depends on large quantities of patient data and biological samples of known, high quality being available for analysis.

“In my research we start out by profiling blood and tissue samples collected from patients with cancer. We look for connections between measurable molecular characteristics and disease progression. Using this approach, we have identified promising candidates for developing diagnostic tests as well as new types of treatments for cancer,” Sjöblom explains.

Thanks to close cooperation with medical services and the assistance of patients, doctors, nurses and laboratory staff, the research programme U-CAN has built up a databank of the highest international standard that follows the entire care process. Since the programme started in 2010, it has collected samples before, during and after treatment from 24,000 patients with 15 different cancer diagnoses, and has made the data available to researchers and companies that want to develop diagnoses and treatments for tumour diseases.

“At U-CAN we seek to analyse the samples collected and turn them into research findings that will benefit as many cancer patients as possible.

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This resource has been used by more than 140 research projects to date.

“One particularly interesting area in which my research group has used samples from U-CAN is the development of blood sample analyses for early detection of cancer, a research issue that requires large amounts of high-quality material,” Sjöblom says.

One powerful method identified for reducing cancer mortality is to develop indicators – biomarkers – that enable the early detection and surgical remedy of cancer before symptoms manifest and the disease spreads. The main difficulty in developing tests intended for widespread screening of large numbers of people with no symptoms of disease is that the biomarkers used need to be sufficiently specific for the particular type of cancer you are looking for. Consequently, this kind of study needs to be well designed and encompass many different types of tumours.

“Uppsala University has a unique combination of resources and expertise to tackle this unsolved problem systematically, using new methods of analysis. In addition, we have strong support from the

“Clinically usable biomarkers that enable early detection of cancer before symptoms manifest and the disease spreads may be the most powerful means of reducing cancer mortality.”

TOBIAS SJÖBLOM, PROFESSOR OF TUMOUR GENETICS

University for pursuing our research findings to reach solutions that can be used in health care,” Sjöblom adds.

Extensive preparations have been made to ensure success and now a major study of three types of tumours has started, aimed at finding biomarkers for each individual type of cancer. The study is scalable and the idea is to extend it to more types of tumours and methods of analysis in the future.

“It is very much appreciated and the donations really do contribute to our ability to conduct good research,” says Karin Forsberg Nilsson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

“Donations are important for good research”

As Karin Forsberg Nilsson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, sees it, donations create a personal relationship between the donor and the researcher. People give to the causes they care most about and so the relationship is conditional on the donor feeling confidence in the researchers and their research.

THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE sometimes receives donations earmarked for specific purposes in both basic and clinical, patient-oriented research.

Almost 70 per cent of research at the Faculty of Medicine is externally funded, with resources coming from research councils, foundations and funds. Some of these, such as the Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation and the Swedish Brain Foundation, rely on donations from private individuals.

“Donations are extremely important for Swedish research in general. Of course it feels particularly gratifying when private individuals or companies recognise that we do good research at the faculty and therefore actively get in touch with us because they want to donate money to our research. Sometimes the donors are former students who feel a desire to give something back to the University, sometimes private individuals who have or have had family members with cancer or other serious diseases. They want their donations to help research make faster progress.

“Often a donor is looking to make an impact on health care, but it doesn’t have to be that way. They may also have a genuine interest in supporting basic research in genetics, for example.”

This form of funding differs from others, in Forsberg Nilsson’s opinion.

“Unlike the donations given to organisations like the Swedish Cancer Society or the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation, which researchers can then apply to for support, these donations create a personal relationship between the donor and the researcher. People give to the causes they care most about. The relationship therefore presupposes that the donor feels confidence in us and our research. For this reason, we are keen to nurture long-term relationships through personal meetings. We generally invite donors to regular meetings and agree with them about written reports or any other way they would like to be involved in the project.”

“We need to know more about women’s mental health. Our ambition is to build up an interdisciplinary research environment with wide-ranging expertise in order to better understand the growing problem of mental ill health, particularly among young women,” says Agneta Skoog Svanberg, Professor of Reproductive Health.

Focus on women’s mental health

In recent decades we have witnessed a disturbing increase in mental ill health in society. Alarming reports are proliferating about a lack of wellbeing among our children and young people, with mental ill health among young women attracting particular attention. The state of knowledge has improved and psychiatry now has an arsenal of evidence-based therapies at its disposal. However, there are still large gaps in our knowledge about what leads to mental health and ill health. In addition, widespread ignorance, stigmatisation and prejudices about mental illness are issues that demand to be addressed.

“AS MENTAL HEALTH affects and is affected by every part of society, both development work and solutions need a broad approach involving collaboration across subject and sector lines. Mental health issues have to be tackled from both a medical perspective and a broader societal perspective,” says Lisa Ekselius, Professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health.

The increased mental ill health among women has been linked to changing conditions of life in society, but no causes have yet been firmly established. Mental ill health is especially common among women of childbearing age, a fact that has repercussions for women’s life situation and reproductive health. A depression in conjunction with childbirth, for example, can affect a woman’s attachment to her newborn child, which ultimately can influence the child’s emotional development.

“The problem is complex and needs to be analysed from a variety of perspectives, not just the medical point of view. Yet despite great public interest in these issues, women’s mental health remains a neglected field of research,” says Agneta Skoog Svanberg, Professor of Reproductive Health at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health.

To increase knowledge and awareness about women’s mental health from a broad perspective, Uppsala University has established the interdisciplinary centre WOMHER (Women’s

Mental Health during the Reproductive Lifespan). The goal is to prevent, detect and treat mental ill health among women of childbearing age.

Experts from all three of the University’s disciplinary domains come together at WOMHER to engage in joint research and education. Besides researchers from the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, around fifty senior researchers and doctoral students from about 20 departments and centres at Uppsala University are involved in research relevant to WOMHER’s focus area.

“This broad gathering of expertise offers the best conditions for understanding, preventing and treating the increasing mental ill health among young women,” Ekselius says.

Lisa Ekselius, → Professor of Psychiatry

← Agneta Skoog Svanberg, Professor of Reproductive Health

BOUNDLESS HUMANITY

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. These rights apply irrespective of ethnicity, skin colour, sex, language, religion, sexual orientation, political opinion or social status. They include the right of every individual to freedom of expression, education, health, social security and development.

Global developments are posing great challenges to the democratic system and human rights, both nationally and internationally. Issues of democracy, peace and justice have come to the fore. War and conflicts, poverty, social injustices and religious conflicts are making it difficult to uphold individual and global security.

Democracy and Higher Education

Academic freedom and democracy are currently under threat in many parts of the world, including in our own European neighbourhood. Here, Uppsala University has an important role to play.

“As a university, one of our greatest contributions to strengthening democracy in the world is countering democratic backsliding through education and research. By this means, we seek to ensure that the public and decision-makers have an understanding of democratic processes, human rights and the conditions required for peaceful communities,” says Tora Holmberg, Professor of Sociology and Vice-Rector.

AT A TIME WHEN the degree of democracy in the world is declining, the position of the universities as guarantors of independent and critical knowledge is also increasingly questioned. This shakes the foundations of our democratic social order in more than one respect. Consequently, a key issue for the future is to increase knowledge about the relationship between higher education and democracy, and how this relationship needs to develop and change.

At Uppsala University, the multidisciplinary research programme Democracy and Higher Education has been established to develop research on democracy and the critical role of the university nationally and globally. The objective is to stimulate new multidisciplinary research and dialogue between academia and the wider community.

“The academic community has strict principles for ensuring that knowledge is both reliable and sustainable. As individual researchers and teachers, and as a higher education institution, we have a responsibility to both comply with and defend these principles. This is a responsibility that comes with academic freedom,” says Professor of Business Studies Linda Wedlin, the director of the programme. “The University must be a place and an organisation in which reliable knowledge is created, shared and freely discussed, and that is able to serve many different purposes in society.”

The broad Democracy and Higher Education research programme is divided into three separate themes: “Democratic processes at the universities”, “The universities and their relations to Swedish democratic institutions”, and “The universities and the global democratisation of nations”. Philosopher Patricia Mindus, USA expert Dag Blanck and literary

“The University must be a place and an organisation in which reliable knowledge is created, shared and freely discussed, and that is able to serve many different purposes in society.”

LINDA WEDLIN, PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS STUDIES

AND DIRECTOR OF THE DEMOCRACY AND HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH PROGRAMME

scholar Christina Kullberg respectively are the project managers for the three themes.

The theme “The universities and their relations to Swedish democratic institutions” explores how Swedish democratic institutions affect the universities and higher education, and vice versa.

“The universities have a mission to educate those who will work in and be responsible for the democratic institutions in our society. The University’s task is therefore to contribute factual data through its independent research to enable society and its members to make well-informed decisions,” declares Dag Blanck, Professor of North American Studies, Director of the Swedish Institute for North American Studies (SINAS) and project manager for the theme. “The universities subject tendencies in society and ideas that dominate social debate to a scrutiny that traditionally is as independent as it is critical.”

The universities should strive to guarantee that the open society takes well-informed decisions in a good democratic spirit, Blanck says.

“However, this order of things faces threats. New digital media and phenomena associated with ‘post-truth’ ideas are among the many challenges to this order.”

Linda Wedlin, Professor of Business Studies and director of the Democracy and Higher Education research programme

Here, the focus is on research that analyses and problematises the democratic mission of the universities and the interplay with the shaping and changing of democracy and democratic processes.

“Some of the important questions concern the interaction between knowledge, cultural expressions, liberal arts and education, and democratic society, and how they influence this society. However, there are other important questions too: how the relationship between democracy and higher education has evolved historically and in differing contexts, and what sort of problems and opportunities the relationship creates both for democracy and for higher education,” Blanck elaborates.

The University’s education and research put Uppsala in a strong position on the international stage and it must continue to be a powerful voice and advocate for the preservation and enhancement of academic freedom and democratic development.

“We have a number of long-term projects in addition to the Democracy and Higher Education research programme,” Tora Holmberg reveals. “The Uppsala Forum on Democracy, Peace and Justice has been an important international arena for researchers and the general public for decades. Another, newer forum for broad collaboration and frontier research is the Centre for Higher Education and Research as a Research Object (HERO). These various initiatives add up to a greater whole.”

Dag Blanck, Professor of North American Studies, Director of the Swedish Institute for North American Studies at Uppsala University (SINAS), and project manager for the theme “The universities and their relations to Swedish democratic institutions”

Tora Holmberg, Professor at the Department of Sociology and ViceRector of the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences

Patricia Mindus, Professor of Practical Philosophy and project manager for the theme “Democratic processes at the universities”

Christina Kullberg, Professor of French, specialising in French literature, and project manager for the theme “The universities and the global democratisation of nations”

The Alva Merdal Centre was established in 2021 with a national remit to gather together global knowledge about nuclear disarmament in a broad sense, including arms control and non-dissemination.

Tackling the threat of nuclear weapons with knowledge

A lot has changed in a short time in discussions around nuclear weapons. We have gone from a fairly stable state of affairs with a strong taboo against the use of nuclear weapons to the current more unpredictable situation. Working for nuclear disarmament requires expertise both about peace and conflicts, and about nuclear physics. All this expertise is gathered together at the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament at Uppsala University.

WHEN THE PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA Vladimir Putin uttered his threat to use nuclear weapons in connection with the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, this completely changed the world security situation.

“The use of nuclear weapons is now seen as a genuine threat,” says Erik Melander, Professor of Peace and Conflict Research and Director of the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament.

As director he connects researchers spread across Uppsala University and the world. He personally is based at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research in central Uppsala, while the researchers in nuclear physics are engaged at Ångström Laboratory on the outskirts of the city. The centre also includes researchers from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and Tokyo Institute of Technology, as well as research groups around the world.

“The centre takes a broad approach and there is no doubt about the need for more knowledge in this area. A lot has changed in a short time in discussions around nuclear weapons, says Erik Melander – from a fairly stable state of affairs to the current more unpredictable situation.”

“A few years ago the issues of nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament felt important but nothing like as urgent. It’s very difficult to grasp that people are now seriously talking about whether Russia might use nuclear weapons in a conflict. Previously there was an idea that using nuclear weapons was more or less taboo – that it was inhumane and terrible. Now the threshold has been lowered and the idea that nuclear weapons can be used has been normalised. This is very worrying,” says Melander.

At the same time, there are efforts to influence public opinion, which in various ways increase

opposition to these weapons. One example is the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was highlighted in 2017 when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

“These efforts help to reinforce the taboo against nuclear weapons and to emphasise how horrendous these weapons are. Even if the likelihood of nuclear powers getting rid of their nuclear weapons altogether might seem very remote, there is a point in working to strengthen the taboo and raise the threshold for using nuclear weapons,” Melander thinks.

Whatever happens in the future, there is a risk of some form of arms race after the war in Ukraine, including nuclear weapons.

“On the other hand, negotiations will also be needed and some of these issues will have to be regulated. There is scope for a lot of very positive work here,” Melander says.

In negotiations before the invasion of Ukraine, both Russia and NATO showed a certain amount of interest in discussing nuclear weapons, and in

“In an increasingly uncertain world, the risk that nuclear weapons will be used is greater than it has been for a long time.”

ERIK MELANDER, PROFESSOR OF PEACE AND CONFLICT RESEARCH, DIRECTOR OF THE ALVA MYRDAL CENTRE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

certain types of confidence­building measures and inspections.

“These kinds of tools existed at the end of the Cold War but have simply petered out since then or been abandoned. Whatever the outcome of the present situation, this is something that will come back on the agenda. New arrangements of this kind will need to be created and agreements negotiated,” Melander says.

The idea is that it is in the interests of both parties that the conflict does not escalate by mistake or because of unnecessary tensions between the parties. For example, no one should need to worry about surprise attacks.

“Both sides share an interest in stabilising the situation. In addition, both sides would gain by having fewer nuclear weapons, by having some kind of balance but at a lower level.”

This is what happened during the Cold War, so it is possible to agree and make improvements, even between enemies, Melander points out.

When it comes to nuclear disarmament, there is an overlap between the technical and political aspects. Sometimes there are technical possibilities, such as a measurement method, which politicians do not want to use due to its being sensitive.

“Something that is, to all appearances, technical may also be very political, so it’s important for anyone studying negotiations also to be aware of the technical aspects. Trying to bridge this gap so as to bring an interdisciplinary approach to bear is an important ambition.”

Peter Andersson, at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, does research on applied nuclear physics and leads one of the working groups at the Alva Myrdal Centre, which focuses on techniques for →

Erik Melander, Professor of Peace and Conflict Research

The Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament is named after Alva Myrdal (1902–1986), internationally renowned as a disarmament negotiator, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 and former Uppsala student.

preventing the dissemination of nuclear materials and promoting disarmament.

“The slowing down of disarmament that we are now seeing in the world reminds us that although nuclear war felt unthinkable and seemed taboo after the Cold War and until a few years ago, large quantities of nuclear weapons still remained and posed a latent threat the whole time,” says Andersson. “It’s therefore important to plan for disarmament in advance, even before the political conditions exist for it. Political thaws can be of short duration, so it’s valuable if irreversible disarmament measures have already been prepared.”

He also emphasises the importance of transparency between states to enhance trust and counteract a galloping arms race.

“There are technical tools for remote monitoring that can be used even without access to the territory of the states being monitored. The poorer relations are, the more important these techniques become as tools for increased observation of other states, since they work even if inspectors are not allowed in. One such technique for remote monitoring is radionuclide monitoring, which is intended to detect nuclear weapons test detonations.”

Sophie Grape is Associate Professor of Physics and carries out research on nuclear material control, which is used to ensure that material in nuclear power plants

is not diverted for use in nuclear weapons. The path from nuclear reactors to nuclear weapons is very long, she emphasises.

“Fuel for a nuclear power plant is designed to work for that specific purpose. However, there is naturally always a risk of materials being used for other purposes.”

Operating a reactor for civil power generation differs from operating it to create nuclear weaponsgrade plutonium.

“By measuring the radiation it is possible to draw conclusions about how the facility has been operated and what the nuclear fuel has been used for,” Grape explains.

The same measurement techniques can be used to verify nuclear disarmament. Materials used in nuclear power have similar properties and transmit the same type of radiation as materials used for nuclear weapons. However, the conditions for measurements differ greatly in civilian and military settings.

“In safeguarding nuclear materials, we find out as much as possible about spent nuclear fuel, while verification of nuclear weapons and their disarmament is another thing altogether. In the latter area, almost all information is classified and therefore secret. At the same time, measurements are needed for the world to trust that disarmament is actually taking place,” Grape says.

Peter Andersson, Associate Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Sophie Grape, Associate Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy

The researchers at the Alva Myrdal Centre want to contribute to technical solutions for the benefit of negotiations on new disarmament agreements as well as ensuring compliance with existing agreements; the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been signed by more than 60 countries so far though not by any nuclear-weapon states as yet.

“More recently, if anything, there has been a lack of ambition to disarm and developments have moved in precisely the opposite direction,” Grape notes.

Researchers at the Alva Myrdal Centre continue to work on enhancing expertise concerning the technical possibilities, so that technology and politics can go hand in hand. At a time when the tide has turned and there is more talk of rearmament than of disarmament, they want to increase knowledge about the technical tools that do after all exist.

“There needs to be dialogue and a bridging of the gap that usually exists between technology and non-technology.”

SOPHIE GRAPE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS

“The techniques we develop are irrelevant if agreements don’t allow them to be used. Or if those who negotiate agreements are unaware of their existence. So, there needs to be dialogue and a bridging of the gap that usually exists between technology and non-technology,” says Grape.

Uppsala University has a high profile in empirical research on armed conflicts and conflict resolution. In the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, researchers continuously collect information on conflicts in the world and make all data freely available worldwide. Data from UCDP has been used to develop a system that can forecast where in the world armed conflicts will occur.

Challenges for the rule of law

The foundations of the rule of law are under pressure. There is an ongoing decline in the rule of law and liberal democracy at the national, regional and global levels. This development raises important and crucial questions for the maintenance of our democratic system. How can we protect it from being dismantled? In which political systems are the principles of the rule of law particularly vulnerable, and what does this mean for how legislation is designed?

IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN public authorities, the individual and business, respect for the rule of law is fundamental to the maintenance of a democratic system of government, the protection of human rights and freedoms, the functioning of public administration and the economy, and long­term confidence in the state.

In times of increasing pressure on the political and social system, it is particularly important that the principles of the rule of law are respected and upheld. The rule of law is not just about the quality of legislation but also about the processes that lead to new legislation. Swedish law has a legislative process that is protected in the fundamental laws (the constitution) and that aims to assure the quality of the legislation, including a fundamental respect for Sweden’s constitutional law and for human rights and freedoms.

When these processes are not respected, the rule of law is also challenged. In an increasingly complex and heterogeneous society, the rule of law is the bedrock on which an inclusive, gender-equal, sustainable and democratic society rests.

For a long time, democracy research has focused on general elections and the importance of institutions for the preservation of democratic systems. Research about human rights is growing.

“What is lacking in this context is a deeper understanding of the principles of the rule of law, their content and how they are defined, how they arose and how they can be preserved, and their role in protecting the democratic system of government, human rights and freedoms, and economic development,” says Anna Singer, Professor of Civil Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law.

“Challenges to the rule of law are undoubtedly one of the most complex and topical threats to our democratic order – nationally, regionally and globally. By focusing our research on the principles of the rule of law, we can contribute to sustainable solutions.”

ANNA SINGER, PROFESSOR OF CIVIL LAW AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF LAW

The Faculty of Law has an ambition to create a unified research environment – an institute for studies in the principles of the rule of law – focused solely on this overarching set of problems, and with a particular focus on constitutional law.

“We want to create conditions and a platform for research that helps to protect and uphold the fundamental principles of the rule of law in different sectors of society, especially education and healthcare, migration and integration, and security and crisis preparedness,” says Anna Jonsson Cornell, Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the Department of Law.

The Department of Law is the leader in Sweden in medical law, education law, constitutional law, public law, migration law and international law.

“We have summarised the challenges facing our society into three themes: the modernisation and development of the welfare state, migration and integration, and security and crisis preparedness,” says Singer.

“At the institute, we also want to take a holistic approach to the important questions around the principles of the rule of law. What do these principles mean, how are they expressed in international, regional and national regulatory frameworks, and what impact should they have on public and private activities in Sweden? By strengthening research that focuses on the principles of the rule of law and their preservation, the institute could contribute to the international research front in this area in a more effective and targeted way.”

Anna Jonsson Cornell, Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the Department of Law

They want to help more people under¯ stand Jewish life and culture

Many Swedish Jews today talk of increasing anti-Semitism in society alongside growing xenophobic tendencies in general. A strengthened research environment and university education in Jewish Studies could act as a counterweight to these currents, strengthen Sweden’s Jewish minority, and contribute positively to society in general.

“JEWS ARE ONE of Sweden’s five national minorities. By pursuing research and spreading knowledge, we can help more people gain an understanding of Jewish culture and religion, and in doing so counteract prejudice and racism in Swedish society,” says Cecilia Wejryd, Professor of Church History and Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University.

“For the Jewish minority to be able to maintain and develop their culture, Swedish Jews also need to have the opportunity to acquire research-based knowledge about their culture and heritage within the context of university studies. Strengthening minority cultures also has benefits for the majority society. This is why we want to establish a professorship in Jewish thought at Uppsala University.”

Jewish Studies is a field that is expanding at leading universities around the world. It is a broad, interdisciplinary research field that explores a wide range of aspects of Jewish life – philosophy, law, culture, history, religion and language. The field transects a variety of areas in the social sciences and humanities.

Jewish thought is a core subject area in Jewish Studies. This subject area studies Jewish source texts, their interpretations and reinterpretations throughout history, and their philosophical, religious and cultural influence. The focus is on the interaction between the interpreted text and the history of ideas, and how this has shaped Jewish life and culture.

Thus far, Jewish thought has been a focus at universities primarily in Israel and the United States, rather than in Europe. There is currently no university in Sweden with a professorship in Jewish thought.

“A new professorship at Uppsala University could fill the current gap in the Swedish higher education

sector and give Sweden a strong international position in the growing field of Jewish Studies. The professorship would also contribute directly to strengthening Swedish-Jewish culture, increase understanding of Jewish culture, and help to combat anti-Semitism. Thus it would also contribute to the fulfilment of Sweden’s obligations to the Jewish community as one of its national minorities.”

Strengthening research in the field would make a positive contribution to the provision of skills in professions with links to the Jewish community, as well as in education and civil society.

“Jewish people’s experience of integration while maintaining their cultural identity has a lot to contribute to the contemporary challenges that we are facing. This contribution would be strengthened by a solid research environment in Jewish Studies,” argues Cecilia Wejryd. “It is worth mentioning that historically, and also in contemporary philosophical debate, Jewish culture and the Jewish experience have had a great influence in various areas of the humanities.”

Despite Uppsala University’s broad expertise in Jewish Studies – ranging from subject areas such as the 2000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls to anti-Semitism in Sweden today – there is no expertise in Jewish thought.

“By pursuing research and spreading knowledge, we can help more people gain an understanding of Jewish life and culture.”

CECILIA

WEJRYD, PROFESSOR IN CHURCH HISTORY AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY

For many years, Uppsala University has collaborated with the European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden (Paideia), which was founded in 2000 to spread knowledge about Jewish life and culture within the interdisciplinary field of Jewish thought. Together, they have laid the groundwork for Sweden to take a leading role in the Nordic region in the field: Uppsala University with its centuries­old tradition of research and teaching in theology and languages; and Paideia through its pan-European outlook and international educational activities.

“The Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University and Paideia are therefore working together to establish a professorship in Jewish thought at Uppsala University,” says Noa Hermele, principal of Paideia folk high school.

“The obvious next step, and a prerequisite for making the most of these strengths, consolidating and developing the field, and paving the way for a coherent progression from undergraduate to doctoral level, is to establish a professorship in Jewish thought with activities at both the University and Paideia,” says Cecilia Wejryd.

“The research environment would contribute directly to strengthening Swedish-Jewish culture, increase understanding of Jewish culture, and thereby also help to combat anti-Semitism,” says Cecilia Wejryd, Professor of Church History and Dean of the Faculty of Theology.

“Extending the infancy lab with research on preschool children would make it possible to identify factors in the childhood environment that have a decisive influence for better or worse on the child’s transition to school,” says Gustaf Gredebäck, Professor of Developmental Psychology.

Children our future

“The preschool years are an important period in people’s social, emotional and cognitive development. Despite this, there is a lack of scientifically based knowledge about how best to design the preschool environment to meet children’s needs and their growth from infant to schoolchild. More research is needed to be able to offer rising generations the best possible conditions during these critical years. A new centre focusing on preschool research could provide answers,” says Gustaf Gredebäck, Professor of Developmental Psychology.

MANY IMPORTANT CHANGES occur in children’s lives during their preschool years. This is when they take their first steps in social contexts outside the family, they start to learn in more structured environments and they get to meet and interact with children and adults from different backgrounds. Their interest grows in exploring, playing and learning from and about their surroundings. At the same time, the quality of the preschool environment affects children’s values with respect to society, gender equality, the environment and other individuals.

When children’s home and preschool environments interact positively, this promotes a favourable cognitive and emotional development that furthers their ability to learn.

“However, the social and cognitive development of preschool children is a relatively neglected research area. We still do not know how to create an environment for the children that ensures they develop well. Children’s development during the transition from home to preschool, and systematic studies over time of their cognitive, empathetic and social abilities, are vital fields for research. To be able to intervene at an early stage when a child’s development diverges from the norm, we need an increased understanding of typical development during this critical period in children’s lives,” says Gredebäck.

Uppsala University already has a leading infancy laboratory where the focus is on the early foundation for cognitive, motor and social development from

babyhood to early childhood. Uppsala Child and Baby Lab has experience of using child-friendly, advanced technical instruments and playful yet precise research methods. The laboratory has developed expertise in methods such as eye and movement tracking, EEG and in some cases neuroimaging.

“Now we want to expand this successful research environment to include preschool children. No previous research has linked these age groups to understand the basis of cognitive and social development early in life. Laboratory research closely connected with preschool in a new centre for more age groups would offer unique opportunities to obtain a comprehensive perspective on children’s development from infant to schoolchild. This can help to give children a solid foundation and a positive start for their continued development in youth and adult years.”

Gustaf Gredebäck, Professor of Developmental Psychology

BOUNDLESS INNOVATION

As never before, the complex networks that now underlie collaborations –between research disciplines, between industry and academia, between companies and individuals –demand environments where research and enterprise can meet. New interdisciplinary technologies are emerging from scholarly research, whose complexity far exceeds the capacity of individual research groups. Consequently, there is an obvious need to create various types of interactive meeting places.

Proximity to strong academic research and – in particular – access to people at the forefront of knowledge play a fundamental role in motivating companies engaged in research to establish operations in a country or region.

Uppsala University’s ecosystem for innovation support is one of the best in Sweden and internationally competitive. Here there is a cohesive and effective environment for innovation that offers support from idea to commercialisation or implementation with substantial social benefit.

As an internationally leading university, Uppsala not only produces excellence, we also help attract excellence to the region and to Sweden.

Vaccine can fight cancer

Immunotherapy using biological drugs is a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer, alongside chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. Several different types of cancer vaccine are currently being tested, which teach the body’s own immune system to recognise cancer cells.

CANCER RESEARCHER AND entrepreneur Sara Mangsbo is at the heart of this exciting development. She is Professor of Protein and Antibody Drugs. Alongside her research, she has started three companies to ensure that her results reach clinical practice.

Cancer cells are specialists in tricking the body’s defence mechanisms so as to avoid attack, but there are medical ways to activate the immune system so that it kills the cancer. This discovery led to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The belief in cancer vaccines has grown stronger now that they can be used along with checkpoint inhibitors. These are drugs that target the immune checkpoints that many types of cancer express to protect themselves against the immune system. Treatment with checkpoint inhibitors enables the body’s immune system to act more powerfully against cancer cells.

“The challenge is to ensure that we understand how to combine different immunotherapies in a smart way and to obtain data sufficiently quickly to give the patients something in the end,” Mangsbo says.

The belief in a cancer vaccine has revived in recent years.

“The explanation for this is that the new toolbox with checkpoint inhibitors has been adopted in clinical practice,” Mangsbo explains. “We didn’t have this toolbox at the beginning of the century or in the 1990s, when cancer vaccines were tried out over a lengthy period of time.”

The new technology strengthens the T-cells in the body’s own immune system so that they can fight the cancer. This is an intervention known as therapeutic vaccination, which can prolong survival in patients with metastatic cancer.

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“Suddenly the clinics, the industry and the researchers understood the potential and power of the immune system. I think there has also been a change in public attitudes towards the possibility of curing cancer.”

One of the companies in which Mangsbo is active is developing a vaccine that is intended to teach the immune system to recognise the protein telomerase, which cancer cells use in order to grow without hindrance.

“To prevent tumour cells from dying when they divide as often as they do, the cancer cells start up a mechanism to produce more and more telomerase. This is necessary to enable the tumour cell to protect its genetic code, but it also makes the tumour visible to the immune system. We use the vaccine to train the immune system to recognise small elements of the telomerase protein so that our immune cells can specifically seek out and inhibit the growth of the tumour,” Mangsbo explains.

The studies aim to analyse the effectiveness of the vaccine in combination with checkpoint inhibitors.

Increased telomerase is a protective mechanism used by a clear majority of all cancer cells. Consequently, vaccine treatment could prove effective against most forms of cancer.

“Suddenly the clinics, the industry and the researchers understood the potential and power of the immune system. I think there has also been a change in public attitudes towards the possibility of curing cancer.”

PROFESSOR SARA MANGSBO, DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY

“At the moment, studies are in progress at five different stages in ovarian cancer, skin cancer (malignant melanoma), lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and last but not least mesothelioma, which is generally caused by prior exposure to asbestos,” Mangsbo continues.

Unlike most other vaccines, which are given for preventive purposes to avoid disease, the idea of the cancer vaccine is that it is given when a patient has already been diagnosed with cancer.

← Sara Mangsbo, Professor of Protein and Antibody Drugs at the Department of Pharmacy

Cecilia Persson, Professor of Materials Science

Designing the human spare parts of tomorrow’s world

Age, injury or disease – whatever the cause, there is an increasing need for treatments to replace bones and other parts of the body. At Uppsala University, researchers are using 3D printers to develop the biomaterials of the future. Perhaps the vision leading them on has less to do with the dream of eternal life than with the dream at least of a pain-free body.

THE POSSIBILITY OF REPLACING selected parts that are more or less worn out is already a fact, and the limits to which human body parts can be manufactured are increasingly being pushed back.

“In many research areas, additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is an ideal technology,” says Cecilia Persson, Professor of Materials Science at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Division of Biomedical Engineering.

In recent years, 3D printing for health care has made great advances. The Additive Manufacturing for the Life Sciences Competence Centre – AM4Life – at Uppsala University includes researchers from the fields of engineering and natural sciences as well as medicine and pharmacy. The focus is on research and education on new technologies for 3D printing, in collaboration with health care and industry.

Additive manufacturing is a manufacturing technology in which a three-dimensional component is built up layer by layer following a 3D CAD model. The technology has many strengths. Among other things, it allows for variation and complexity, it enables the production of shapes that cannot be produced using traditional technologies, and it permits rapid prototyping with relatively low initial costs. It also makes it possible to develop materials with new microstructures, and thus new combinations of properties, such as greater strength and corrosion resistance in certain metals. Another benefit is that it brings together researchers from different backgrounds, which can lead to new ideas and innovations in a range of areas.

Researchers from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Ångström Laboratory have been responsible for one of the

major breakthroughs: a cranial implant whose 3D-manufactured titanium mesh, combined with a bioactive ceramic, can both protect the brain and trigger bone formation. Another research group is studying the possibility of restoring large bone defects or worn-out spines using 3D-printed components. Current variants are non-degradable, but there is hope of developing printable, degradable components that convert into load-bearing bones in the body. The key may be dissolvable metal.

“The degradable materials that have mainly been studied are polymers and ceramics,” says Cecilia Persson. “But polymers are not sufficiently rigid, and ceramics are too fragile to bend. We therefore want to print metal materials that degrade over time.”

The idea is to insert metal replacement parts where the bone has degenerated or been damaged. As the metal breaks down, the body’s own bone will grow together. The challenge is to achieve the right metal composition.

“The metals we’re looking at react in aqueous solutions, which is why we want to use them,” Persson says. “But when you print them, they are also typically very prone to react with the oxygen in the air and you get oxides that can complicate manufacturing. So it’s important to be able to control oxygen levels in order to print functional materials. The new equipment at AM@Å – the Faculty of Engineering and Science’s additive manufacturing initiative at the Ångström Laboratory – has given us unprecedented opportunities for this type of research.”

But are there any limits to which human body parts can be printed? The U-PRINT 3D printing facility

“There is hope of developing printable, degradable components that convert into load-bearing bones in the body.”

CECILIA PERSSON, PROFESSOR OF MATERIALS SCIENCE

at the Department of Medical Cell Biology may have the answer. Under the direction of the facility’s founder Professor Johan Kreuger and his colleagues, tissue-like structures are printed in 3D which can be used as advanced models for basic medical research, drug development and evaluation of new materials. Eventually, these techniques may also lead to an ability to print tissues such as skin, bone and cartilage that can be used for transplantation.

“U-PRINT is also collaborating with the hospital to develop workflows that allow surgeons to quickly produce 3D-printed models for surgical planning, as well as patient­specific tools for surgical procedures,” says Persson. “The way in which 3D printing is constantly leading to new applications is very exciting. Moreover, there are now several companies that can produce patient­specific implants.”

A few years ago, Persson also entered the business world when she founded the company Inossia together with an acquaintance with experience in the clinical implementation of biomaterials. Along with a doctoral student, Persson had developed a new bone cement that protects vertebrae from new fractures by making the material significantly more elastic and softer than current materials.

Inossia’s material is based on discoveries from Persson’s research at Uppsala University. Now they have moved from research and development to clinical applications and the company has taken a first step towards the European market. The new elastic bone cement can potentially minimise the risk of further vertebral fractures in more patients with osteoporosis

← Johan Kreuger, Professor of Medical Cell Biology

3D-printed spinal cages for degraded discs →

Innovation that can save lives

Sepsis, or blood poisoning as it is commonly known, is a life-threatening condition that leads to the death of around 8,000 Swedes each year. It is estimated that around one third of all intensive care patients develop sepsis. Thanks to Inger Persson’s innovation, the AI algorithm NAVOY Sepsis, these patients can be identified in time.

INGER PERSSON, Associate Professor of Statistics at Uppsala University, has developed an algorithm that discovers sepsis, a condition that can be difficult for doctors to diagnose. Her software, NAVOY Sepsis, helps health services discover the risk of sepsis in time, which could potentially save a life a day. In 2023 she was awarded Uppsala University’s innovation prize Hjärnäpplet for the innovation that has led to the company AlgoDx.

“What we have done is to develop a piece of software, a mathematical algorithm, that can predict which patients in intensive care are at high risk of developing sepsis. We integrate our algorithm with the hospital’s electronic health record (EHR) system. The software reads the patient data in real time, processes it and calculates the risk of this particular patient developing sepsis.”

The algorithm takes account of some 20 parameters such as blood pressure, body temperature and blood test results. The software’s ability to quickly process this wealth of information and see how it changes over time can help doctors make the right diagnosis and start treatment in time – which is vital for patients at risk.

“Together with the Swedish Institute for Health Economics, we produced a health economic model

“Using AI to identify other diseases at an early stage will become more common in the future. There are many areas in health care where a similar solution could be used. There’s no limit to how far this could be taken.”

INGER PERSSON,

STATISTICS

and found that if we can bring the treatment forward by just a few hours, we can in principle save one patient’s life per day.”

NAVOY Sepsis is available for hospitals and EHR systems to purchase. Following an initial study phase at Södersjukhuset, integration is now underway at St Görans Sjukhus, two hospitals in Stockholm. As the EHR systems differ, the software has to be tailored to each hospital.

Before joining Uppsala University, Persson worked in pharmaceutical development. Both skills came in handy in developing the algorithm, which they are now implementing in the healthcare sector.

When Inger Persson started the company with two partners, she took a leave of absence from her role at the Department of Statistics. She has now returned to the University and taken on an advisory role at the company AlgoDx.

The company currently has nine employees and another product in the pipeline – a similar algorithm that can be used to predict the risk of acute kidney damage. Persson believes that using AI to identify other diseases at an early stage will become more common in the future.

“There are many areas in health care where a similar solution could be used. There’s no limit to how far this could be taken.”

Inger Persson, Associate Professor of Statistics →

← In 2023 Inger Persson was awarded Uppsala University’s innovation prize Hjärnäpplet for the innovation that led to the company AlgoDx.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF

Innovative blood sampling card ready to leave the lab

Why is it challenging to detect early signs of disease and why does monitoring patient responses to treatment remain such a complex task? Researchers from Uppsala University aim to provide new insights and improve lifelong health monitoring, one drop of blood at a time, by developing the use of dried blood samples.

NINA SCHILLER IS CEO and co-founder of the company SampleFacts, and was formerly a researcher at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology. At SampleFacts, she is leading the development of a novel blood sampling card for dried blood spots.

What sets this card apart is its ability to separate blood cells and blood plasma into distinct patient samples at the point of collection. This approach challenges the conventional method in which healthcare professionals take blood samples from the arm for later separation by centrifugation in a laboratory setting.

“To unlock the full potential of dried blood spots and match the current handling of blood samples, the separation of blood is a crucial key,” Schiller stresses.

The blood samples collected using these new cards are suitable for a wide range of analyses. Furthermore, the ability to store dried blood samples at room temperature and their long­term stability simplifies the establishment of biobanks and the monitoring of how patients respond to treatments.

According to Schiller, this method opens the door wide to the world of biomarkers and, in the long run, a new chapter in our understanding of diseases, their early signs and progression.

“We eliminate several steps in the sample collection process without losing valuable information about the body’s health. This enables us to monitor disease progression and easily collect samples from a large number of individuals. Our innovation can offer fresh insights into biomarkers, making it an attractive solution for both researchers and pharmaceutical companies.”

Behind the project is a dedicated team with experience in biobanking, research and entrepreneurship

in the field of medical technology. The foundation for the sampling card was laid by Professor of Molecular Medicine Ulf Landegren and his former PhD student Johan Björkesten at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology. They had previously demonstrated that dried blood samples are suitable for analysis using modern large-scale techniques. Schiller herself was introduced to the project a few years ago, having spent some time in Landegren’s research group.

The first target group for SampleFacts is research physicians who can easily monitor how patients respond to treatment using the sampling card.

“Currently, it is both challenging and costly for researchers to access patient samples for their studies,” Schiller observes. “This process demands substantial resources, including medical visits for patients, nurses for sample collection, and proper handling of samples during transport and storage. Our card simplifies sample collection and analysis because patients can collect their own samples and send them by regular mail. Furthermore, sample handling before analysis is automated,” she continues.

In addition to making it easier for researchers to study biomarkers in patients at various stages of a disease and under different treatments, Schiller believes that their solution paves the way for creating extensive sample biobanks. The innovation project

“We eliminate several steps in the sample collection process without losing valuable information about the body’s health. This enables us to monitor disease progression and easily collect samples from a large number of individuals.”

NINA SCHILLER, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY SAMPLEFACTS, AND FORMERLY A RESEARCHER AT THE DEPARTMENT OF IMMUNOLOGY, GENETICS AND PATHOLOGY

has made significant progress in a short time. Collaborations have been established with researchers and various analysis platforms, and the research community has shown a keen interest in using the sampling card in their studies, Schiller says.

“We already have ongoing research projects that utilise our card, with more in the pipeline. We want to assess how the cards and the entire sample collection and analysis process perform in practice. These projects are pivotal in demonstrating the value of this innovation for research and, ultimately, for the patients themselves.”

← Nina Schiller, CEO and co-founder of the company SampleFacts

Ulf Landegren, Professor of Molecular Medicine, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology ↓

The antibody that can slow down Alzheimer’s

A new treatment that has proved to slow down Alzheimer’s disease came out on the American market in summer 2023 – after 23 years of methodical collaboration between researchers and the pharmaceutical industry. The approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a new drug to fight Alzheimer’s has been widely described as a paradigm shift in treating the disease.

IT ALL BEGAN with a research discovery by Professor Lars Lannfelt of the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences at Uppsala University. Lannfelt early developed an interest in identifying the mechanisms behind diseases. Though he reached retirement age a few years ago and is now professor emeritus, he remains active both within research and in the company BioArctic.

Late in the evening of 28 September 2022, Lannfelt received a long­awaited phone call: the final and decisive clinical study of the drug against Alzheimer’s involving a large group of patients (the ‘phase 3 study’) showed good results. The new drug was actually able to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The outcome of the study showed that the disease progression among patients in the study treated with the drug was 27 per cent slower, compared with the control group.

“This is something completely new,” Lannfelt explains. “Drugs that alleviate the symptoms appeared in the 1990s and attempts have been made since then to use disease­modifying drugs to influence the disease progression, but with little success until now. It’s quite fantastic!”

Lannfelt has long been interested in the genesis of diseases. Originally, he focused on diseases such as acute intermittent porphyria, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but then he began to do research on Alzheimer’s disease.

Before long, in 1992, he made his first important discovery, which American researchers called the ‘Swedish mutation’. This provided the first unequivocal evidence that it was the substance amyloid-beta that caused the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

The next breakthrough came at the end of the 1990s. This was when Lannfelt discovered the ‘Arctic mutation’, which led to Alzheimer’s disease. The mutation was found in a family from the far north of Sweden and in 1999 the researchers began to understand its consequences.

“It led to a tendency for increased formation of early­stage fibrils (long threads) of amyloid­beta that are found in plaques. These soluble early stages fascinated me. Already back then, I conceived the idea of attempting to develop a therapy, immunotherapy, against these protofibrils.”

“What has interested me most, really, is understanding how diseases arise. Then as I grew older, I became interested in trying to do something about it.”

LARS LANNFELT, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND CARING SCIENCES

Around this time he was appointed professor at Uppsala University, where he moved forward with his attempts to develop an antibody that was capable of attacking protofibrils. Trials undertaken in collaboration with the Swedish company Mabtech led in 2005 to the development of a mouse antibody at the Rudbeck Laboratory. To take it all a step further, Lannfelt started the company BioArctic along with his colleague Per Gellerfors. In collaboration with the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, they developed an antibody that was adapted for human use.

Since then, the antibody has undergone three rounds of tests: a phase 1 study in 2010, a phase 2 study that ran from 2013 to 2018, and most recently the phase 3 study that began in 2019 and generated findings in autumn 2022. Then, in July 2023, the decisive news came that the FDA had approved the drug.

“We have worked closely with Eisai throughout,” says Lannfelt. “We provide the molecular medical and molecular biological knowledge while they have great expertise in clinical trials.”

Developing new drugs is a lengthy, costly and difficult process, but one key factor was patenting the idea and starting a company. Lannfelt realised this early on.

“I could never have had our collaboration with Eisai without having a patent to protect the actual principle. Moreover, it’s impossible to develop a pharmaceutical product in an academic environment. That requires a corporate set-up because such large amounts of money are at stake.”

Lars Lannfelt, Professor Emeritus, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences →

The award is presented at a ceremony in the Grand Auditorium in the University Main Building.

Uppsala University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award

ACADEMIC RESEARCH IS an engine for innovation and utilisation. Creativity and innovation arise out of meetings between individuals and in the intersections between scholarly fields.

A new foundation was established at Uppsala University in 2021 with founding assets of SEK 20 million, donated by the ten founders: “Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award Foundation”. By awarding an annual prize of at least

SEK 500,000, the foundation seeks to give Uppsala University’s entrepreneurial culture greater visibility.

The first recipients of the award, in 2022, were Ulf Landegren, Björn Ekström and Jon Heimer, the key figures behind the successful biotech company Olink Proteomics. The company is based on research carried out at Uppsala University by Professor Ulf Landegren and his research group.

The 2022 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award was presented to Ulf Landegren, Björn Ekström and Jon Heimer.

BOUNDLESS CULTURE

Mummies, dinosaurs, books, photographs, pictures, plants and beautiful works of art. Uppsala University has cared for major scientific, artistic and cultural history collections since the Middle Ages. Many of the objects are unique and priceless. The collections are a great asset for researchers, students, visitors and other curious people. These cultural treasures invite us to explore our past, understand our own times and gaze into the future.

Silver cover of the Codex Argenteus (the Silver Bible)

A source of knowledge for all

For 400 years, Uppsala University Library has played a key role in the dissemination of knowledge both within and beyond the University. The collections range from thousandyear-old manuscripts, early printed material and pictures to scholarly publications. Digitisation can make these treasures available to everyone.

ACTIVE PUBLISHING OPERATIONS and scholarly communication make the University’s research and the University Library’s collections available in both digital and physical formats. The University Library is at the forefront of digital developments and aspires to be a nationally leading digital library environment.

The library looks after and develops its unique collections to make them accessible for education, research and the wider world. In addition to extensive resources for digital media, the University Library has six million printed books that can be found via the library’s search engines. Carolina Rediviva library also contains large cultural heritage collections in the form of early printed material, manuscripts, pictures, maps and music scores. The library has a vital responsibility to preserve these treasures and make them available for research, the wider world and future generations.

Carolina Rediviva – Uppsala University Library

“The library’s open platform for digital collections and digitised cultural heritage – Alvin – now contains over 400,000 items and nearly 3.5 million freely downloadable files,” says Lars Burman, Library Director at the University Library.

“However, the process of digitisation has only just begun. So far, only a fraction of the collections are online. The need for digitisation is increasing both to offer new opportunities for study and research, and to protect the fragile material.”

The goal is to continue to develop the digital platforms for both scholarly publications and cultural heritage collections. However, the library does not just want to continue to make its material freely available online.

“We also have an ambition to further increase opportunities to use digitised material by developing search and download services, as well as digital exhibitions that can make the cultural heritage collections available to everyone,” Burman says. “We need support to help us step up work on preserving the library’s treasures and making them available so that more people can benefit from them.”

“Digitisation means that cultural heritage can belong to everyone. We need to move forward vigorously. Our goal is to further develop our digital platforms for both scholarly publications and cultural heritage collections.”

LARS BURMAN, LIBRARY DIRECTOR, PROFESSOR OF LITERATURE

← The Codex Argenteus in the exhibition hall at Carolina Rediviva

The title page of Carl Linnaeus’s Systema naturae is in the University Library’s collections. →

“The historic building’s architectural qualities, new exhibitions and modern museum technology combine to offer visitors a completely new experience of the University’s cultural heritage,” says Mikael Ahlund, Museum Director at Gustavianum.

Gustavianum –the University’s treasure house

Gustavianum – Uppsala University Museum – places a magnificent cultural heritage on display. Major collections have grown up over the centuries, including archaeological and historical objects, extensive collections of art and coins, and historical scientific instruments – a treasure house for researchers and a broader audience alike. The building has now undergone extensive renovation to create optimal conditions for showing these treasures in the future.

THE GUSTAVIANUM COLLECTIONS extend from prehistoric times to the present day and encompass a wide range of fields – objects from the ancient civilisations of Egypt and the Mediterranean; archaeological and historical objects from the Nordic region; extensive collections of art and coins; and numerous objects and instruments associated with the history of science. As well as telling the story of humanity in a diversity of areas, the various collections and the objects in them together tell the tale of the University’s history. A series of newly produced exhibitions will showcase a wide selection of objects from the University’s collections.

“One theme connecting these various collections is the link to Uppsala University. Through the University’s activities over the centuries – in lecture halls and laboratories, through expeditions and excavations, through donations and purchases –the different collections have been involved in the instruction, research and building up of knowledge that has occurred at the University,” says Mikael Ahlund, Museum Director at Gustavianum.

The vision behind the collective exhibitions at the new Gustavianum is to offer a wider audience inspiring and instructive encounters with the unique objects in the museum’s holdings and the many stories they have to tell. As a university museum, Gustavianum is intended as a place for engagement between the University and the wider community.

“Besides displaying historical objects, we also want to be a meeting place for conversations on key issues in our own time, for research and science. Our public activities therefore include programmes, theme days, lectures and temporary exhibitions with a contemporary focus, in which new research and new knowledge can be discussed and debated in a historical perspective,” Ahlund explains.

Gustavianum – Uppsala University Museum

← An important part of the experience of visiting Gustavianum is the building itself. One of the building’s major attractions is the Anatomical Theatre, created by Olof Rudbeck the Elder in the 1660s. The Anatomical Theatre, situated just under the cupola-shaped roof, is a first-class museum object in its own right.

One of the most famous objects in Gustavianum is the Art Cabinet from Augsburg, which was donated to Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden, in 1632. A few months later, Gustav II Adolf died in the battle of Lützen and the cabinet was shipped to Sweden. For several decades it stood in Uppsala Castle before being donated to Uppsala University by King Karl XI in 1694. The cabinet, with the thousand objects it contains, is the only one of its kind to survive with its collections of objects and curiosities preserved intact. →

Anders Wall

“A very special relationship”

For many years, financier Anders Wall has shown a great commitment to Uppsala University. Through his foundations, he has funded pioneering genetic research, the Anders Wall Professorship in Entrepreneurship, scholarships for Master’s students and much more besides...

ANDERS WALL’S RELATIONSHIP with Uppsala University began way back, when he attended the Cathedral School in Uppsala as a teenager. He was a farmer’s son from the village of Giresta who was able to continue his education at grammar school level thanks to the support of a teacher and a clergyman. He earned money to pay for his keep by selling rabbits in the market square in his lunch hour. On his way between the school and the market square, he often passed the University Main Building.

“I used to daydream about getting there some day, and the dream came true. Over the years, I have had a great many personal friends who were researchers and professors at the University.”

Anders Wall himself did not study at Uppsala University. Instead, he studied economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, which led to a career in the various companies owned by the Beijer group, before becoming Managing Director at Kol och Koks (later Beijerinvest). At that point, he was the youngest managing director of a listed company in Sweden. He was later a member of numerous boards, including chairing the board of Sweden’s largest industrial company, Volvo. When he stepped down as chair of Beijer Alma in 2016, he was the oldest chair of a listed company in Sweden.

He now chairs the Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation, which supports research and culture, and the Anders Wall Foundation, which sponsors young talents in research, entrepreneurship, rural development and music. When the Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation was established in the 1970s, Anders Wall asked the Vice-Chancellor of the day, Martin Henriksson Holmdahl, if there was any exciting research the foundation could support.

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“It’s really tremendously pleasing and stimulating to be involved in creating something that gives so much joy. I am grateful to be able to play a part in progress.”

ANDERS WALL, FINANCIER

“He recommended genetic research, and I established contact with Ulf Pettersson, Ulf Landegren and Ulf Gyllensten. Those three then formed the heart of the Beijer Laboratory, which attracted many outstanding genetic researchers to Uppsala. It was a fantastic feeling to be among the first people in the world involved in such an important matter.”

Thanks to support from the Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation, a new chair in artificial intelligence (AI) has also been established, which aims to reinforce, invigorate and advance research in AI and machine learning. In addition, in 2022 the foundation’s fourth Beijer Laboratory at Uppsala University – the Beijer Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence – was inaugurated with a focus on applications of AI in the life sciences and on the societal impact of AI.

Another significant contribution to the University is the professorship in entrepreneurship, which is named after Anders Wall. Stemming from a collection in the business sector in connection with Anders Wall’s seventieth birthday, it was established in 2003 and has been a permanent position at the University ever since. The foundation’s award “Uppsala Student of the Year” is yet another of Anders Wall’s initiatives. It is presented at the annual celebration of the University’s foundation to a student who has distinguished themself in their studies, student life and entrepreneurial thinking.

“We want to show how entrepreneurship works in practice and that it is not just a matter of luck. Many people are successful, but one mustn’t forget that the road to success is fraught with difficulties and

disappointments. I often say that the true entrepreneur is the person who can survive the problems and bounce back.”

When Anders Wall reached the age of 80, a scholarship programme was established for Master’s students from countries outside the EU. Every year around 20 students receive scholarships that cover both their tuition fees and their living expenses at Uppsala University. Just as is the case with his other scholarships, he wants to be involved and support talented young people, contributing resources to enable them to fulfil their dreams – just as he received help once upon a time.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to show my gratitude to the clergyman and teacher who gave me the chance to study once upon a time, to repay them in another guise.”

And that university that Anders Wall passed by as a young grammar school student has ended up being a major and important part of his life.

“For me, this is a very special relationship which is not just about money as such, but also involves a commitment, a desire to contribute to the University in various ways.”

Uppsala University has received a desk that once belonged to Carl Linnaeus as a gift from the Beijer Foundation. The desk is placed in the Uppsala University Library Carolina Rediviva. When the desk was presented to the University in 2021, the chair of the Beijer Foundation, Anders Wall, was the first person to sign the University Library’s new visitors’ book. →

By their very nature, research and education know no bounds. This applies not just to the freedom of thought but also to the crossing of boundaries between academic disciplines, and of national borders, to create the global research and education community.

Mobility across national borders, between cultures and into other academic fields is essential to the new encounters and impulses that have helped move the front lines of science and scholarship forward over the centuries. This mobility also leads to the valuable insights and the unexpected benefit for individuals and society that can emerge where no one thought of looking.

Internationalisation in education: Uppsala University has international partner universities and exchange agreements with some 150 universities all over the world. The University offers about 130 international Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes and 650 freestanding courses in English.

Open the doors to more international students!

Uppsala University has partnerships with some of the world’s top universities. The flows of students, teachers and researchers between international universities and Uppsala University play a crucial role in spreading knowledge, ideas and skills, not just within the University but in society in general. Uppsala University aspires to attract the very best talents, no matter where they come from. This means offering students from every part of the globe the opportunity to study here.

UPPSALA UNIVERSITY has an ambition to increase the number of scholarships for non-European students who have to pay for their studies in Sweden. The University has a lot to teach, but also a lot to learn from others. For this reason, Uppsala University has now set up a long-term fund for scholarships for international students.

In 2011 tuition fees were introduced for Bachelor’s and Master’s students from countries outside the EU/ EEA and Switzerland. The objective was for Sweden to compete on the strength of educational quality, not by offering free education. However, one unintended consequence was a sharp decrease in the number of international Master’s students from non-EU countries. Without a scholarship, it is virtually impossible for academically talented but financially disadvantaged non-European students to come to Uppsala.

The number of international students has now rebounded. Every year approximately 1,700 feepaying students are admitted to Uppsala University. However, the University can only offer funding to a few of them. This limits the University’s potential for continued internationalisation.

International students admitted at the Master’s level are highly qualified and achieve good results, which has a favourable impact on the level of both education and research. These students are often very well-motivated and have a good theoretical

background. They are positive role models for our Swedish students, who are inspired by and learn a lot from their international coursemates.

Moreover, if these students have the opportunity to take extra, in-depth courses that further improve their academic qualifications, some of the most talented students are more likely to stay on at Uppsala University as doctoral students. After graduating, they become valuable ambassadors for Sweden and Uppsala University around the world.

Campus Gotland

Campus Gotland has been part of Uppsala University since 2013. A lot has happened since the merger between Gotland University College and Uppsala University that year, such as an increase in the number of students and the development of a strong focus on research and education in sustainable development.

“OVER THESE YEARS, we have built up a high-quality operation, and we have high ambitions for Campus Gotland in research, education and collaboration. Conditions are particularly good here for a concentration and focus on sustainable development,” says Jenny Helin, docent at the Department of Business Studies and Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor on Campus Gotland.

The University has around 20 departments in Visby and most of them engage in research. Examples of strong research areas at Campus Gotland are the energy transition, cultural heritage and game design.

Some of the research in the field of the energy transition is linked to the collaborative project, Energy Transition Gotland. It is led by Professor Stefan Ivanell and Senior Lecturer Johanna Liljenfeldt of the Department of Earth Sciences. The project brings together Gotland’s special circumstances with ongoing research and education in the energy transition. The goal is to create conditions for partnerships in the energy transition and to find synergies between different challenges and show how these challenges can be solved at the national and international levels. The project is interdisciplinary, and includes researchers with cutting-edge expertise in areas such as renewable energy, planning, energy efficiency, local energy communities, climate change and transport.

The research in cultural heritage and conservation focuses on analyses of cultural heritage values and

how conservation efforts can be implemented in practice. There has been an increasing focus on clarifying how important the cultural heritage is for social, environmental and economic sustainability as well as the relationship between humans and cultural heritage from a historical perspective. Cultural heritage is the collective memory of a society and creates identities and connections between the past, present and future. A project led by Professor of Conservation Mattias Legnér is researching cultural heritage in conflict zones. Cultural heritage can often become a target in wars. This has been clearly illustrated in many contemporary conflicts where churches, heritage buildings and museums have been destroyed. What can be done to protect a country’s heritage collections and buildings in an armed conflict?

Jenny Helin, Associate Professor at the Department of Business Studies and Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor on Campus Gotland

Stefan Ivanell, Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences

Mattias Legnér, Professor of Conservation

Doris Rusch, Professor of Game Design

Games have become one of the most influential media of the 21st century. Yet we have only just begun to understand their impact on gamers and society as a whole. At the Department of Game Design at Campus Gotland, research is being conducted into games as a part of larger psychological, social and cultural systems. Here, game design, games, gamers and gaming are studied in a variety of contexts based on a broad spectrum of socially relevant questions ranging from education and health to personal development, citizens and citizenship, and social behaviour. A game cluster is also being developed, which will be linked to the European Institute of Innovation and

Technology’s Culture and Creativity community, for example.

“At Campus Gotland there are also great opportunities to renew education and research in untried directions, as well as to test new ways of working,” according to Jenny Helin.

An example of this is the Uppsala University Graduate School in Sustainability Studies (GRASS) initiative. Here, eight of the University’s departments have joined forces and are conducting interdisciplinary doctoral studies in questions related to marine and coastal development, changing consumption patterns and destination development.

Svante Pääbo, Uppsala alumnus and Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2022

The way to the Nobel Prize

At Uppsala University, the foundation was laid for an extraordinary research career.

“In a sense, I learned everything in Uppsala,” says Svante Pääbo, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2022 and was named 2023 Alumnus of the Year at Uppsala University.

IT ALL STARTED AT Uppsala University, where Svante Pääbo spent his youth from 1975 to 1986.

“In a sense, I learned everything here: Egyptology, human biology in the medical programme, and molecular genetics, a new field at the time, where the Wallenberg Laboratory, where I did my doctorate, was at the forefront. That’s what I’m still engaged in.”

Pääbo’s first encounter with Uppsala University was Gustavianum, where he came to take exams in Egyptology courses. He was still in upper secondary school at the time and was studying Egyptology at the ‘Evening University’ in Stockholm.

“I took exams in these courses under Torgny SäveSöderbergh, who was Professor of Egyptology, but was not enrolled at the University. He saved the results in his desk drawer and they were entered in the exam book when I became a student.”

His studies in Egyptology did not turn out quite as he had imagined, which led to a bit of a crisis. Eventually he decided to study medicine instead.

“I thought I may as well start and then I can always change if it doesn’t suit me.”

His real intention was to go into research, but he discovered in the clinical courses that he enjoyed meeting patients more than he had expected.

“I found that it was a tremendous privilege to work as a doctor. You get to meet people from all walks of life. If you’re a good doctor, you take an interest in their way of life and circumstances, rather like a priest in the past.”

This led to another crisis. Should he commit to research or complete the medical programme?

“Then I thought, I can always do a doctorate and return to medicine later. That’s still where I am. I don’t know how long a break you can take from your studies,” he laughs.

What happened next was the start of the research path that led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2022. Pääbo combined his interest in Egyptology with his newly acquired knowledge of molecular genetics.

“When I did my doctorate, the possibility of cloning the DNA in bacteria was quite new. As I knew there were thousands of mummified humans and animals in Egyptological collections, the idea →

“Gustavianum was a very important place for me. I first came there as an upper secondary school student to take exams in Egyptology and it was a great experience. But then all of Uppsala –Uppsala University Hospital, the Wallenberg Laboratory and Uppsala Biomedical Centre – is still my home turf in a way.”

of applying this technology to them came quite naturally.”

To begin with, this was an evening and weekend hobby that he kept secret from his supervisor Per Peterson at the Wallenberg Laboratory.

With the help of the then Professor of Egyptology, Rostislav Holthoer, Pääbo experimented with material from mummies, first from the Victoria Museum in Uppsala and later from a museum in Berlin.

“I was able to show, using microscopy and dyes, that there was DNA in cell nuclei from a mummy in Berlin. I also cloned a small amount of human DNA from the mummy. However, in the following years it became apparent that contamination with human DNA is a major problem, so in all probability those DNA sequences came from some museum curator or from myself. One major issue was whether the mummy really was ancient, as falsified mummies do occur.”

Here again it was a great advantage to be at a university that combines expertise from many different areas. He could quite simply walk over to the Ångström Laboratory where Professor Göran Possnert dated the mummy using the carbon-14 method and established that it was 2,300 years old.

“This is an example of the way an all-round university makes it possible to easily do interdisciplinary research,” says Pääbo.

And he has carried on as he started in his eventful life as a researcher, with stints in Zurich, California and Munich before being one of the researchers who started the new Max Planck Institute in Leipzig. Interdisciplinary collaboration is the very foundation of his research on the origins of human beings.

“We are completely dependent on palaeontologists and archaeologists finding things and often formulating questions. At the same time, we are dependent on developments in molecular genetics, where we adapt and refine methods to overcome the technical problems associated with working on ancient DNA.”

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SVANTE PÄÄBO, NOBEL LAUREATE IN PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE 2022

Svante Pääbo visited Uppsala University and the University Main Building in connection with the Nobel Prize Ceremony in December 2022.

Campus Uppsala – the Pääbo Circuit

The Pääbo Circuit – a cycle path between different research and education centres in Uppsala – is named after Svante Pääbo, the 2022 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine, who made the most of the University’s great academic breadth during his time in Uppsala by cycling between the various centres.

For Nobel laureate Svante Pääbo, it all started at Uppsala University, where he spent his youth from 1975 to 1986.

“In a sense, I learned everything here. I read Russian and Eastern European studies during my military service as an interpreter. Then came Egyptology, medicine and a doctoral thesis in cell biology,” Pääbo explains.

Creative meeting places have been created in several research and education centres in Uppsala to stimulate meetings between different perspectives from different faculties and research fields: Uppsala Biomedical Centre, Blåsenhus, Ekonomikum, English Park Campus – Centre for the Humanities, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Gamla Torget, Geo Centre, Rudbeck Laboratory and Ångström Laboratory. Uppsala University also has extensive education and research at Uppsala University Hospital.

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Uppsala University, January 2024.

Editors: Anna Malmberg and Agneta Stålhandske. Produced by: Oh My. Design: Daniel Hansson. Printed by: Kph. Photo credits: Jean-Marie Le Corre, Axel Friberg, Salim Ghandour, Magnus Hjalmarsson, Augusto Mendes, David Naylor, Daniel Olsson, Stewen Quigley, Agneta Stålhandske, Camilla Thulin, Frank Vinken, Mikael Wallerstedt, Lars Wallin, and Alvin (Uppsala University Library) and Getty Images.

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