Ben Murrell awarded The Svedberg Prize 2022
The Svedberg prize 2022 is awarded to Ben Murrell, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, for his work characterizing antibody responses to viruses, especially the virus SARS-CoV-2.
Ben Murrell’s research focuses on the coevolution between viruses and antibodies, aiming to improve our understanding of how viruses evade antibody responses, as well as how antibodies can protect against diverse viral variants. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, his lab has used a variety of approaches to study various aspect of SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses from vaccination and natural infection. He has also worked on pre-clinical discovery and characterization of camelid single-domain antibodies, called “nanobodies”, as well as conventional antibodies with therapeutic potential.
Ben holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and joined KI in late 2018, where he now holds the position of Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology.
The Svedberg Prize is awarded by the Swedish National Committee for Molecular Biosciences within the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences together with the Swedish Society for Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology (SFBBM). The prize is awarded to a successful biochemist or molecular biologist who is active in Sweden and who has not turned 40 during the year. In addition to a medal, the award also includes a prize of SEK 40,000.