Kerstin Lindblad-Toh awarded Göran Gustafsson Prize
The Göran Gustafsson Prizes are Sweden’s finest national research awards to young researchers in natural sciences. Kerstin Lindblad-Toh has been awarded the prize “for her studies of mammals’ genomes, which have led to identification of the genomes’ functional parts”.
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh is Professor of Comparative Genetics at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology at Uppsala University. She is also active at Broad Institute in Boston and is Director of SciLifeLab Uppsala.
Lindblad-Toh has researched and mapped the genomes of a large number of mammals, lizards and fishes and compared the mammals’ genomes to find specific genes in the human genome, as well as the signals that control when genes are activated or inactivated. After having mapped the genome of the dog, Lindblad-Toh discovered genes that had changed when the dog was domesticised. These include genes that control development and function of the brain, and starch metabolism.
Also, Lindblad-Toh has focused on finding disease genes in dogs, since dogs and humans share a large part of their genomes, live in the same environments and get many of the same diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, heart diseases and inflammatory diseases.
In her ongoing research, Lindblad-Toh studies genes found in dogs and the corresponding genes in humans that give the same diseases. The goal is to identify mutations, and in the long run to develop earlier diagnoses and better, tailor-made treatments for both dogs and humans.
Facts: The Göran Gustafsson Prizes
The prizes are awarded annually since 1991 in mathematics, physics, chemistry, molecular biology and medicine by the Göran Gustafsson Foundation for natural science and medical research. The nominations are put forward by the Swedish universities and are prepared by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Each prizewinner gets SEK 4.5 million in funding over three years, as well as a personal prize of SEK 250,000.
Linda Koffmar