Professor Jacobsen receives the Jahre prize for his groundbreaking studies on haematopoietic stem cells.
The junior award is shared between Thomas McWilliams and William Nyberg. McWilliams receives the prize for his innovative work on autophagy in relation to neurodegenerative disorders, and Nyberg receives the prize for his important work on developing T-cell immunotherapy for eradicating cancer cells.
– The Anders Jahre Medical Awards honour basic research that pushes the boundaries of knowledge. I congratulate all the prize winners and thank them for their great efforts. They have contributed to better insights that have already impacted on the treatment of diseases, says Svein St?len, Rector of the University of Oslo.
The Anders Jahre Awards for 2025 will be awarded on 6 November in The University aula.
Research on the development from stem cell to mature cells
Professor Sten Eirik W?lgaard Jacobsen has uncovered important aspects of how blood forming stem cells contribute to the millions of critical immune cells, red blood cells and platelets that need to be replenished every second, and also how these normal stem cells due to accumulation of mutations can transform into leukemic stem cells.
– I am grateful and humbled having been selected as this year’s recipient of Anders Jahre's Award, and I feel a high level of gratitude towards the essential contributions from all outstanding mentors, lab members, and collaborators who I have had the privilege of working closely with. Honouring the pursuit of fundamental research, this prize also reminds me about the critical moment of history we are living in, when not only academic freedom but also other fundamental pillars of our democracy are under massive attack, Jacobsen says and continues:
– This threat is very real also in our Nordic democracies, and we have entered a fact-resistant time when in addition to continuing our pursuit of important research questions, more will be expected from us as knowledge and fact-based researchers and institutions.
His discoveries have led to a redrawing of the map of how different blood cell lineages develop from stem cells and also uncovered the existence of different types of blood forming stem cells. He has conducted studies both in mice and humans, often by a thorough characterisation of cells at the single-cell level. Several of his findings have clinical implications for future strategies to improve the outcome of treatment of cancers of the blood and in general.
Professor Jacobsen is born in Norway, and he studied medicine and received his doctorate at the University of Bergen. He has led research centres and groups at Lund University and at the University of Oxford. For the past ten years he has been working primarily at the Karolinska Institutet.
The Anders Jahre Award for Young Researchers
Dr. Thomas McWilliams, University of Helsinki, receives the Anders Jahre Prize for Young Researchers for his work on autophagy. His work has revealed how autophagy (i.e. how cells break down and recycle their own components) works in brain cells and contributed to our understanding of autophagy in disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
– I am honoured to receive this award. Science is never a solo pursuit, and I am deeply grateful to the mentors, team members, collaborators, and colleagues whose energy and enjoyment of discovery have made this possible. I would also like to thank the faculty, and especially my family, for their unwavering support, encouragement, and strength, McWilliams says.
McWilliams shares the prize with Dr. William Nyberg from Karolinska Institutet. Nyberg receives the award for developing effective tools to instruct T cells to attack and kill cancer cells. His tool was developed for mice and has since been adapted so that it can also be used in humans.
– I am very honoured to have been selected for the Anders Jahre Award for Young Researchers. Cell therapies against cancer have become more and more effective, but accessibility has remained an issue. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, we have shown that innovative technologies and methods can be used to make these therapies better, and to start the path toward accessible therapies for all patients. I am very grateful for my mentors and collaborators that have helped me along the way, and this award is a major recognition of the importance to keep pushing the boundaries in science and medicine, Nyberg says.