Stockholm university

Four large Wallenberg grants to Stockholm University

Researchers at Stockholm University are awarded four Wallenberg grants totaling SEK 115 million. The grants go to research on ancient DNA, proteins, dark matter and the role of forests in climate change.

The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation has decided on this year's project grants. 23 researchers are awarded a total of SEK 700 million. Four researchers at Stockholm University are awarded grants totaling SEK 115 million over five years.

These four researchers at Stockholm University are awarded grants:

Claudia Mohr, Department of Environmental Science

Claudia Mohr
Claudia Mohr
Photo: KAW/Magnus Bergström

Project: Feedbacks between a changing climate and vegetation, SEK 31 million over five years.
Plants are known to not only remove CO2 from the atmosphere but to also emit thousands of compounds, known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), whose role in climate change has largely been “overlooked.” Now, researchers from Stockholm University will launch a new research project into the role of VOC emissions in climate change.
Update: Claudia Mohr will take up a position abroad in 2023. Ilona Riipinen, professor at the Department of Environmental Science, will then take over responsibility for this project.
Read article on the project: From Trees to Clouds: towards understanding the role of forests in climate change

 


Arne Elofsson, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysi

Arne Elofsson Photo: Rickard Kihlström
Arne Elofsson
Photo: Rickard Kihlström

Projekt: Learning the molecular component of the cell, SEK 30 million over five years.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning are becoming increasingly important to map the proteins in our cells and how they interact with each other. In a new project, the researchers will develop tools to increase understanding of how cells work.
Read article on the project: AI will map proteins and increase understanding of how cells work

 


Anders Götherström, Department of Archeology and Classical Studies

Anders Götherström
Anders Götherström
Foto: Richard Kihlström

With the help om advanced DNA technology, researchers will map the human encounter with the wild fauna in Eurasia. What happened when they interacted and how have they affected each other?
Read article on the project: They map the meeting between modern humans and wild fauna in the northern hemisphere



Jón Gudmundsson, Department of Physics

Porträtt av Jón Gudmundsson
Jón Gudmundsson.
Foto: Alexandre Adler.

Scientists have been pondering the existence of dark matter – matter that does not seem to interact with light – for almost a century. Thanks to a 27.5 million SEK grant, Jón Gudmundsson and his colleagues at Stockholm University can construct a new type of detector to find axions, a type of hypothetical particles that could constitute dark matter.
Read article on the project: Quest for the particles behind dark matter
 

Co-applicants for other projects

Gia Destouni and Zahra Kalantari at the Department of Natural Geography are co-applicants for a project grant granted to the University of Gothenburg. The project is called “Unraveling the legacy of historical, emerging, and future groundwater pollution” .

Christian Broberger at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics is co-applicant on a project with principal applicant at KTH. The project is called "From atom to organism: Bridging the scales in the design of ion channel drugs".

Read about all 23 projects