20 new Technology Development Projects funded as call strengthens collaboration across and beyond SciLifeLab

SciLifeLab recently decided on 20 Technology Development Projects (TDPs) for funding in the latest TDP call. TDPs are projects aimed at developing new technologies, methods or workflows, often as collaborations between infrastructure experts and researchers. The goal is that the developed technologies will eventually be incorporated into the SciLifeLab infrastructure platforms and offered as new services to the user community. 

The TDP call was launched in connection with the SciLifeLab Group Leader Retreat in September 2025. As emphasized by SciLifeLab Director Jan Ellenberg, this was an ambitious, consolidated call – merging three consecutive calls into one coordinated initiative – with a total budget of approximately 50 MSEK over two years.

The call attracted a lot of interest and, in total, 67 applications were submitted. To keep the process manageable, each platform was asked to limit the number of proposals to around seven or eight. That meant internal discussions started early, and in many cases, platforms had to prioritize and select between many strong projects.

Added value beyond the funded projects: a bridge to future calls

“We believe that the call itself led to added value far beyond the final list of funded TDPs,” says SciLifeLab Infrastructure Director Annika Jenmalm Jensen. During the application phase, new collaborations formed as researchers approached infrastructure platforms they had not worked with before. The discussions helped sharpen or reshape the ideas behind the proposals. This iterative dialogue functioned as an idea maturation mechanism, strengthening the submitted proposals. 

The call also revealed that innovation within infrastructure often requires time for maturation. Several promising project ideas were not considered ready to be launched but are expected to be further developed through continued collaboration. This creates a natural bridge toward the next TDP call, which is planned for in 2027.

Team science in practice

Many of the funded projects are great examples of team science. In practical terms, that means people with different types of expertise and from different universities – technology developers, data specialists, method experts and research PIs – working together from the beginning rather than passing work between groups.

“One of the main goals of the TDP call was to foster strong collaborations between the infrastructure and the research community as well as cross-platform collaborations, and in that respect, the call was very successful” says SciLifeLab Research Infrastructure Coordinator Lars Johansson.

A joint SciLifeLab effort

The budget for the call combined national infrastructure funds (SEK 30 MSEK), Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness funds (SEK 16 MSEK) as well as FTE resources from the Bioinformatics platform (NBIS) and Data Centre.

Visit our Technology Development Projects page for more information

List of all the projects funded:

• Time-resolved cryo-EM – resolving molecular mechanisms at the milliseconds and microseconds scale
  Marta Carroni (SU), Sebastian Westenhoff (UU), Filipe Maia (UU), Magnus Andersson UmU)
• Spatial miRNomics
  Rapolas Spalinskas (SU), Mats Nilsson (SU), Agustin Robles (SU)
• Reshaping Bio NMR by AI: Fully automated assignment and structure in hours
  Ulrika Brath (GU), Vladislav Orekhov (GU)
• Spatial multiomics integration
  Åsa Björklund (Chalmers), Joakim Lundeberg (KTH), Charlotte Stadler (KTH), Katarina Tiklova (SU), Anna Nilsson (UU), Anja Mezger (KTH)
• From Correlation to Causation: Linking CRISPR Perturbation with Cell- and Tissue Profiling at Scale
  Bernhard Schmierer (KI), Chika Yokota (SU), Kasper Karlsson (KI), Mats Nilsson (SU)
• QUICK-CN: Ultra-low-input copy-number analysis at scale
  Jessica Nordlund (UU), Jan Dumanski (UU), Joakim Lundeberg (KTH), Abrahan Hernandez-Hernandez (KI)
• High-Resolution Multiomics: Advanced integrated Spatial Multiomics for next-generation diagnostics
  Carolina Oses Sepulveda (KTH), Katarina Tiklova (SU), Charlotte Stadler (KTH), Anders Ullén (KI), Elisabet Stener-Victorin (KI)
• Q-Loop – Quality-Controlled Workflow Manager for Microscopy
  Mathieu Coincon (SU), Rafael Camacho (GU), Gerhard Hofer (SU), Wei Ouyang (KTH)
• Cell-specific Proteome 3D Structure Atlas by Structural Elucidation of Proteins in Cellular Environment (SEPCE)
  Massimiliano Gaetani (KI), Roman Zubarev (KI)
• Spatial Multi-Omics on a Single Tissue Section
  Katarina Tiklova (SU), Anna Nilsson (UU), Åsa Björklund (Chalmers)
• AICE – AI-guided Intracellular Cyclic-peptide Engine
  Per Arvidsson (KI), Mikael Altun (KI), Patrick Bryant (SU), Ilaria Testa (KTH)
• Multiplex Spatial Interactomics Integrating in-situ Proximity Ligation Assay and Cell Painting for AI-Powered Drug Discovery and Precision Medicine
  Malin Jarvius (UU), Ulf Landegren (UU), Ola Spjuth (UU), Xuan Wang (UU)
• Enabling the next big transformation in Genomics: Combining Pangenomes and the Ancestral Combination Graph
  Per Unneberg (UU), José Cerca (Swedish Museum of Natural History), Ole Tørresen (University of Oslo), Lars Feuk (UU)
• BioVAT – Biodiversity Variant Analysis Toolkit
  Henrik Lantz (UU), Niclas Backström (UU), Mafalda Ferreira (SU), José Cerca (Swedish Museum of Natural History), Jacob Höglund (UU)
• Next-Generation Spatial Omics: Enabling Host–Microbe-Immune Insights via Smt and Spatial VDJ
  Anja Mezger (KTH), Stefania Giacomello (KTH), Camilla Engblom (KI), Kim Thrane (KTH)
• 3D spatial profiling of transcripts and proteins in tissue
  Hans Blom, Katarina Tiklova (SU), Charlotte Stadler (KTH), Steven Edwards (KTH)
• Development of a High-Accuracy, High-Throughput Droplet-PTA Platform for scWGS
  Julia Bräunig (LU), Johan Henriksson (UmU), Laura Carroll (UmU), Simone Weström (UU), Åsa Björklund (Chalmers)
• Capture-based long-read metagenomics for detection of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance
  Bianca Stenmark (ORU), Rene Kaden (UU), Daniel Golparian (ORU)
• AbPEA-NGS: Monitoring Antibody Reactivity Using High-Throughput Proximity Extension Assays
  Mikael Åberg (UU), Ulf Landegren (UU), Nils Landegren (UU), Anna Szekely (SLU)
• HOT-Lab: Anticipatory and Reactive Structural Biology Technologies for Pandemic Preparedness
  Cecilia Persson (GU), Gemma C. Atkinson (LU), Dag Ahren (LU)