Tilen Trselic awarded the 2025 Cilla Weigelt scholarship
Tilen Trselic, a doctoral student at the Department of Medicine, Solna, has been awarded the 2025 Cilla Weigelt Prize for his research on Sjögren’s syndrome, a rare rheumatic disease that primarily affects women. The prize includes a personal scholarship and a research grant to promote scientific exchange.
The Cilla Weigelt Scholarship aims to encourage and support PhD students investigating molecular mechanisms relevant to rare and under-treated diseases. Tilen Trselic received the award for his research on the molecular and cellular function of DIORA1 and its role in Sjögren’s syndrome. His work has led to the identification of new protein interactions and regulatory networks with potential significance for cell motility and future treatment strategies.
Congratulations Tilen, please tell us about your research!
“My research focuses on understanding how a specific gene, DIORA1, contributes to autoimmune diseases. We recently published the results of my main project in PNAS. We found that this gene regulates an important family of kinases, which in turn control cell motility – a key process in the immune system and the development of autoimmune diseases. During the project, we also discovered a group of proteins that seem to influence the same kinases, with each protein likely governing a specific biological function. It’s a bit like a kitchen appliance with several specialized attachments, each designed for a particular task. Since these kinases are already being studied as potential targets in cancer treatment, understanding how they are regulated may provide new insights into the links between autoimmunity and cancer.”
How will you use the grant?
“I plan to use the grant to carry out a scientific exchange abroad, which will give me new perspectives and training in advanced technologies. I hope the exchange will help me further develop an idea I have, related to the proteins we recently identified. The grant gives me the opportunity to build new collaborations and bring home expertise that could open entirely new paths for our research project.”
What are your plans after completing your PhD?
“After finishing my PhD, I want to continue studying these proteins in more detail and develop innovative tools to systematically test their effects on cells. My goal is to do this within a postdoctoral position where I combine complementary methods to better understand how kinases are regulated and how this affects cellular behavior.”
About Cilla Weigelt:
Cecilia "Cilla" Weigelt (born Gidlöf) obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Immunology from Uppsala University in 1998. In 2000, she joined the Danish-Swedish biotechnology company HemeBiotech as the Head of Cell Biology. She remained with the company (later renamed to Zymenex, which was subsequently acquired by Chiesi Group in 2013) throughout her career. During this time, she made significant contributions to several drug discovery and development projects focused on the treatment of rare diseases. Cilla always supported younger researchers and was driven by the goal of helping patients who lacked adequate treatment for devastating illnesses. Cilla Weigelt passed away in 2021 at the age of 51 after living with breast cancer for ten years.
About the Cecilia Weigelt Prize:
The Cilla Weigelt Prize has been established by Chiesi (her employer), the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), as well as by friends and family in her memory to support and inspire young doctoral students and to honor her legacy. The prize is administered by the Center for Molecular Medicine Foundation (CMM) at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital. Additional contributions to the prize have been made by Aled Edwards (Toronto, Canada), Johan Weigelt (Stockholm), and MRCS AB (Michael Sundström, Stockholm).