SciLifeLab researcher Sten Linnarsson chosen to be Wallenberg Scholar

SciLifeLab researcher Sten Linnarsson (Karolinska Institutet) is one of 22 researchers, among the foremost in their respective fields in Sweden, that have been chosen as this year’s Wallenberg Scholars. The scholars will receive 18 million SEK each from the Wallenberg Foundations in the form of five-year grants for “free research”.

“Free research is what it sounds like. The researcher’s own curiosity, expertise and knowledge determines the nature of their research. The Foundation sets no conditions as to results. Failure is allowed, if that’s how it turns out. But history has shown that most knowledge has been gained as a result of free research”, says Peter Wallenberg, Jr, Chairman of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

The funding enables Sten Linnarsson and his research group to try new ideas.

“The grant from the Wallenberg Scholar program gives us great freedom to try bold ideas that otherwise can be hard to get funding for, and to use powerful but expensive methods. We are very happy that this will now let us seriously investigate early human brain development, and we hope we can also contribute to the understanding of developmental neurological disorders”, says Sten Linnarsson.

An aim with the grant is to give researchers the opportunity to commit to challenging long-term projects, without the pressure of seeking external funding. In total, 22 researchers from various fields were chosen to be Wallenberg Scholars.

Read more about the grant
Read more about Professor Sten Linnarsson