Celebrating scientific curiosity: Leif Andersson receives the E.J. Nyström Prize

SciLifeLab researcher Leif Andersson (Uppsala University) recently received The Grand Prize of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters – Professor E.J. Nyström’s Prize. The prize is awarded annually for outstanding scientific accomplishments.

Reflecting on his career, Andersson shared the following thoughts upon receiving this award: “It’s a great honor to receive a prize like this. I especially appreciated a line from the prize motivation, as it captures the essence of my career: ‘Leif Andersson stands as an example of how world-class biological research follows discoveries wherever they lead, crossing the boundaries between basic and applied research and between disciplines.’”

Leif Andersson’s basic training was in biology, but for 30 years worked on comparative genomics using domesticated animals as models for phenotypic evolution. Before moving to natural populations when next-generation sequencing made it possible to carry out genome studies in any organism. 

This led to many interesting discoveries, including genes with a major role in metabolic regulation in pigs and other vertebrates. A gene controlling variation in gait in horses, a supergene controlling male mating strategies in ruff. Genes with major effects on the evolution of beak morphology in Darwin’s finches. And the establishment of the Atlantic and Baltic herring as prime models for genomic studies of ecological adaptation in vertebrates.

Find out more about Leif Andersson and his research

Photo from: scientiarum.fi