Professor Rikard Holmdahl, Long-time Collaborator with the University of Turku, Awarded "Little Nobel" in Medical Research

​On 31 August, Professor Rikard Holmdahl was announced as the recipient of this year's Anders Jahre Award, given by the University of Oslo. Also called the "Little Nobel", the award is highly regarded in the field of medicine. It is awarded by an international expert panel for exceptionally high-quality research that has led to new discoveries. The prize is worth one million Norwegian krone, about 125,000 euro, and Holmdahl shares it with Professor Ludvig Sollid from Norway who also conducts research on autoimmune diseases.

Professor Rikard Holmdahl from the Swedish Karolinska Intitutet is an expert in autoimmune diseases. He has long collaborated with the University of Turku  and conducted research in 2007-2011 as a FiDiPro Professor in MediCity in Turku with his research group, funded  by the Academy of Finland. Holmdahl still partially operates with his group in MediCity.

According to Holmdahl, an essential part of the research on autoimmune diseases that led to the award was conducted in Turku.

– The research done in Turku has been most significant. For example, we have shown that the common belief in the healthiness of antioxidants is not always necessarily true, and that antioxidants may occasionally be harmful, says Holmdahl.

Holmdahl has said that most diseases that shorten life expectancy, such as MS, rheumatism and diabetes, are "unnecessary". Instead of medication that alleviates symptoms, the goal of the Holmdahl research group is to prevent the onset of the disease in the first place.

Academy Professor Sirpa Jalkanen, who has collaborated with Holmdahl on research in Turku for a long time, says that Holmdahl's research has advanced the understanding of the mechanisms of complex autoimmune diseases such as rheumatism and MS.

– Holmdahl's expertise in for example animal modelling and gene technology is internationally groundbreaking. He has brought this expertise to the University of Turku with his varied and active collaboration with our researchers, notes Jalkanen.

Previous University of Turku recipients for the Anders Jahre Senior Medical Prize are Professor Arvo Oksala and Academy Professor Sirpa Jalkanen. Recipients of the Anders Jahre Prize for Young Scientists are Professor Markku Jalkanen who now works in the commercial sector, Academy Professor Johanna Ivaska and Research Professor Jukka Westermarck.

Text: Liisa Reunanen
Translation: Sam Parwar
Photo: Vesa-Matti Väärä