Four KAW project grants to KI

The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) have granted close to SEK 108 million to four research projects at Karolinska Institutet. In total this year, the Foundation has granted SEK 560 million to 18 research projects, which are considered to be of the highest international class, and offering potential for future scientific breakthroughs.

“Project funding is mainly granted to basic research within medicine, engineering and natural sciences. This support give researchers the opportunity to invest in risky and long-term projects. The basic idea is to give them the freedom to succeed and fail without any demands on results or applications, "comments KAW's Chairperson Peter Wallenberg Jr, in a press release.

KAW is the largest private research financier in Sweden, celebrating its 100 year anniversary in 2017. The Foundation applies a strict peer review process, assigning leading international researchers in each area to evaluate the grant applications.

2017 project grants at KI

Project: Understanding malaria-parasite survival in the human body for developing antimalarial drugs
Funding: SEK 27 500 000 over a period of five years
Lead applicant: Mats Wahlgren, Professor, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology

Project: The Achilles’ heel of breast cancer
Funding: SEK 36 800 000 over a period of five years.
Lead applicant: Anita Göndör, Senior Researcher, Department of Oncology-Pathology

Project: Elucidating the principles of allelic expression and regulation using single-cell genomics
Funding: SEK 18 400 000 kronor over a period of five years.
Lead applicant: Rickard Sandberg, Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology

Project: Deciphering Spatial Signaling of Protein Clusters at the Membrane
Funding: SEK 25 150 000 over a period of five years.
Lead applicant: Björn Högberg, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics