Björkén Prize goes to Peter Lindblad and Valentin Troll
Valentin Troll, Professor of Petrology, and Peter Lindblad, Professor of Microbial Chemistry, are awarded the Björkén Prize. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
The 2025 Björkén Prize will be shared equally by Peter Lindblad, Professor at the Department of Chemistry – Ångström Laboratory, and Valentin Troll, Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences. They will receive the prize on 7 October in connection with the celebration of the University’s anniversary.
The Björkén Prize is one of Uppsala University’s top scholarly awards for outstanding research. It is awarded alternately in four different areas, with the 2025 prize falling in the category ‘Chemistry, mineralogy, metallurgy and geology’.
Award citation:
Peter Lindblad is awarded the prize for his work in establishing and developing ‘green cell factories’, i.e. modified cyanobacteria that produce a selected product from CO2 and solar energy.
Peter Lindblad and his group set out from the most efficient organisms in nature at capturing CO2 and using the sun’s energy to grow, photosynthesising cyanobacteria – perhaps best known as algal bloom organisms. In their basic research, they have developed the genetic tools needed to modify cyanobacteria and successfully used them to transform cells into efficient factories for the production of chemicals and fuels from CO2. In several scientific papers, they have demonstrated new methods and opportunities, cyanobacteria as producers of chemicals for the future, and ideas and suggestions for the way forward.
Volcanic rocks
Valentin Troll is awarded the prize for his work to better understand the origin and evolution of igneous and volcanic rocks and to make igneous petrology and geochemistry relevant and accessible to a wider community.
Valentin Troll’s research focuses on volcanic and magmatic processes, volcanic ore deposits, and hydrothermal alteration and hazard mitigation in volcanic environments in different places in the world, such as the Canary Islands, Indonesia, the Arctic, Scotland, the Andes and many others.
Åsa Malmberg
Facts about the Björkén Prize
The Björkén Prize is one of Uppsala University’s top scholarly awards for outstanding research. First awarded in 1902, it is conferred alternately in four different areas:
Botany, zoology and landscape planning
Chemistry, mineralogy, metallurgy and geology
Physics, mechanics and engineering
Theoretical disciplines of medical science.