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Five projects, one major research boost
Five researchers at Lund University have received a combined SEK 149 million in grants from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, giving the Swedish university its strongest showing in the foundation’s 2026 project-grant round. The awards were announced on 13 October 2026 and will support five-year projects in materials science, medicine, physical chemistry and astrophysics.
The funding is part of a national package worth SEK 900 million for 30 research projects. The foundation said the selected projects were judged by international experts to be innovative and at the forefront of their fields. Its programme is aimed primarily at basic research: work that may not produce an immediate product or treatment, but can create the knowledge and methods on which later applications depend.
From new magnetic materials to efficient electronics
The largest Lund award, SEK 36 million, goes to medical biochemist Vasili Hauryliuk for a project on how bacteria defend themselves against bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria. The team will study anti-phage defence systems at the bacterial membrane. The work could contribute to the longer-term development of phage therapy, an approach that uses viruses to target bacteria and is being investigated as one possible response to antibiotic resistance.
Professor Kimberly Dick Thelander has received SEK 34 million to study altermagnetism, a recently identified form of magnetic behaviour. Unlike conventional magnets, altermagnetic materials can have no overall magnetic field while still giving electrons different spin-dependent properties. Lund researchers will create nanoscale structures with precisely controlled crystal arrangements and examine how those structures respond to electromagnetic fields and mechanical strain.
The project will use advanced X-ray characterisation at the MAX IV facility in Lund. In the longer term, a better understanding of altermagnetism could help researchers explore compact memory devices, sensors and components for quantum technologies. The university stresses that these are possible future applications, not outcomes guaranteed by the grant.
Studying inflammation and protein behaviour
Professor Johan Malmström has been awarded SEK 30 million for the Inflammatory Proteome–Protease–Peptidome Atlas. His team will map proteins, protein-cutting enzymes and the small peptide fragments produced during different stages of inflammation, from ordinary wound healing to severe inflammatory responses.
The aim is to identify biological markers that could eventually help researchers distinguish between inflammation that is resolving normally and processes that may become harmful. The project will also examine naturally occurring peptides that might provide starting points for future medicines. The work is exploratory and is not being presented as an immediate clinical breakthrough.
Professor Emma Sparr receives SEK 25 million for TIPPOINT, a project on how proteins and lipids assemble into different structures. The researchers are focusing on alpha-synuclein, a protein involved in communication between nerve cells that can also form aggregates associated with Parkinson’s disease. By studying protein–lipid interactions in carefully controlled systems, the team hopes to understand the conditions that shift the balance between functional structures and disease-linked aggregates.
Looking back to the first galaxies
Astrophysicist Oscar Agertz has received SEK 24 million for “Zooming into Cosmic Dawn”. Working with Angela Adamo of Stockholm University, his team will combine computer simulations with observations from the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate how the earliest galaxies formed and evolved.
The project will examine why some early galaxies fragmented into dense star clusters, how those clusters influenced galaxy growth and how simulations can be used together with observations to prepare predictions for future observatories, including the Extremely Large Telescope. The research is designed to address questions about the first billion years after the Big Bang.
Long-term research rather than instant results
The five Lund awards illustrate the range of modern university research: from microscopic bacterial defence systems and nanoscale materials to inflammation, protein chemistry and the history of the universe. They also show why research funding is often structured over several years. Each project requires specialised equipment, international collaboration and teams whose results may emerge gradually.
For Lund University, the announcement strengthens its position in Sweden’s research system while giving five groups the stability to recruit researchers, develop methods and pursue questions that are difficult to answer through short-term funding. The projects will now move from award decisions into the practical phase of building teams, conducting experiments and comparing results with the wider international research community.
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