Uppsala University Innovation Prize, ‘Hjärnäpplet’ awarded to Helena Danielson

“Helena Danielson is truly worthy of this innovation prize. She has shown that is possible to combine research-based entrepreneurship of the highest quality with academic leadership and collegial responsibility,” says Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmberg, chair of the prize committee.

The motivation reads:

“Throughout her career, Helena Danielson has combined outstanding research and academic leadership with entrepreneurship and participating in the wider innovation environment in Uppsala. Through her work, she has shown the synergy between research and innovation development. 

Professor Danielson has collaborated with industry in different projects since the mid-1990s. One example is her long-term collaboration with GE Healthcare that works with the application of pharmaceuticals and applications of SPR (surface plasmon resonance) biosensor technology. This work contributed to the founding of Beactica AB in 2006. Together with her team, she has developed a patented method platform for the identification and development of mechanically defined pharmaceutical candidates. Through this platform, Beactica AB is also developing its own pharmaceutical candidates, including LSD1 (Lysine-specific demethylase 1). 

At the same time as developing companies and pharmaceutical candidates, Professor Danielson has continued to develop her research and contacts with students and research teams at Uppsala University. Furthermore, she actively participates in the research environment and consequently contributes to developing conditions for the Life Science industry in Uppsala and Stockholm”.