Mats Karlsson receives the Uppsala University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award

In 2001, Uppsala University named Mats Karlsson the world's first Professor of Pharmacometrics. Now he is awarded the university's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award with the motivation "Together with his research team, he has successfully transformed the academic excellence of a world-unique research environment into a prominent and viable consulting company"

“It's very inspiring to receive this attention. Not only for my sake but also for everyone working in our company Pharmetheus, which we developed from our research environment and where approximately 70 of our former colleagues are currently working with a focus on the industry, says Mats Karlsson.

When Mats Karlsson first arrived at the Biomedical Center, not even his faculty neighbors knew exactly what their new colleague would be doing. Today, the pharmacometric environment at Uppsala University is the workplace for some forty pharmacists, chemists, biologists, system developers and statisticians. The laboratory is both interdisciplinary and international – and it is a melting pot that delivers. A search for Mats Karlsson in the PubMed medical database generates 400+ scientific publications. A slightly phenomenal figure, and one can’t help but wonder which contribution the author himself values the most?

“The fact is that the vast majority of our results, software and models reach far and are cited quite frequently. The users are found in both healthcare, industry, authorities and academia, and if I am to highlight something in our scientific output that I am extra proud over, I would have to say the scope. And, of course, Pharmetheus, which I founded together with nine colleagues and today contribute as advisor and board member.”

With the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award, Uppsala University recognizes people who have contributed in a decisive way to turn a discovery or innovation into successful commercialization or implementation with significant societal benefit. If we read further in the citation, it is stated that Mats Karlsson and his group's "collective commitment and expertise have created a strong connection between academia and the world of pharmacy, and have been decisive in positioning the company as a global key player in pharmaceutical development."

“Pharmacometrics can be described as an interdisciplinary arena where researchers use a diversity of data to build mathematical models in order to accelerate the development and optimise the dosage of drugs, and it is a field that is constantly opening new doors. I am as inspired by this topic today as I was when I first discovered it, and hopefully our group has many more scientific contributions ahead of us.

LEARN MORE

• Uppsala University's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award
• Research in pharmacometrics at Uppsala University
• Pharmetheus online

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text: Magnus Alsne, Annica Hulth, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt