Hagberg Prize winners 2025
The Board of the Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Foundation has decided that, for 2025, Dr Magnus Johansson, Uppsala University, and Dr Courtney Stairs, Uppsala University, will each be awarded the Foundation’s personal prize as well as research support totalling SEK 700,000 each.
Prize winners 2025 - Magnus Johansson och Courtney Stairs
Magnus Johansson, active in the Molecular Systems Biology programme, is awarded the Hagberg Prize “for single-molecule fluorescence studies of processes in living cells.”
Magnus Johansson has developed methodologies that enable advanced single-molecule fluorescence studies of processes within living cells. In particular, he has focused on the mechanisms of protein synthesis and has uncovered new insights into how different proteins in the cell influence ribosome function.
Courtney Stairs, active in the Molecular Evolution programme, is awarded the Hagberg Prize “for biochemical and molecular biological studies of anaerobic protozoa.”
Courtney Stairs’ research aims to understand the biology of anaerobic eukaryotes, including protists and animals, by combining genomics and cell biology. Her work focuses particularly on the molecular mechanisms underlying these organisms’ specialised lifestyles and how these have evolved.
Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize
The purpose of the Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Foundation is to stimulate and foster scientific research within the medical and biochemical fields respectively. Each year, an award is made of a personal prize as well as financial support to young researchers who have distinguished themselves in their particular field.
The foundation’s grant and prize, in alternate years, go to the two different categories of medicine and biochemistry. Where questions of nomination for the awards are concerned, the Foundation collaborates with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) and Karolinska Institutet.
Sven Hagberg (1894-1961) was a graduate engineer and cereal chemist. He developed a new method for measuring the baking characteristics of flour. This method, called the "Hagberg Falling Number", is now in use the world over. Ebba-Christina Hagberg (1900-1972) was involved in organisational work and shared her husband’s interest in foreign cultures. The couple had no children of their own but bequeathed their property to the Foundation.
