Professor Kaj Blennow, Section of Psychiatry and Neurosurgery at the University of Gothenburg/Sahlgrenska Academy, receives the Söderberg Prize in Medicine 2016, for his research on Alzheimer's disease. The prize money is one million SEK.

- I am so happy to hear that! It is a great honor for me to receive the Söderberg Prize in Medicine," says Kaj Blennow when he receives the news. "It is also very gratifying that this type of clinically related biochemical research is being recognized. Today, there are several new very promising drugs that are in the final stages of clinical trials, and the day they are hopefully available to patients, there will be a huge need to be able to diagnose Alzheimer's early in the course of the disease.

Kaj Blennow has had a tremendous impact on Alzheimer's research, contributing to the discovery and development of biomarker analysis for the disease.

- It is thanks to his efforts that these now very valuable and common tests are used in clinical medicine, neurology, geriatrics and psychiatry, as well as in drug development worldwide," says Kerstin Nilsson, chair of the award jury.

Kaj Blennow's goal has been to make his research results available in the clinic, and his laboratory was therefore the first in the world to introduce these analyses into diagnostic routine. A large number of European countries have since followed in his footsteps and the analytical methods are now also used in the USA, Australia, South America and Japan.

The Söderberg Prize in Medicine rewards clinical medical research, the results of which have become evident over the last ten years. The prize has been awarded since 1986, until 2014 together with the Ragnar Söderberg Foundation, and the winner is chosen in collaboration with the Swedish Medical Association.

The prize of SEK 1 million was presented by HM The Queen at a ceremony on April 7, 2016 at the Swedish Medical Association in Stockholm.

Kaj Blennow
Professor Kaj Blennow is Head of the Neurochemistry Laboratory at the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. He received his medical degree from Lund University, defended his thesis on Alzheimer's disease at the University of Gothenburg in 1990, and since 1995 he has been Chief Physician and Head of the Neurochemical Laboratory at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. He has received several international awards, including the Alois Alzheimer Research Award 2001, the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Research Award 2010 and the Alzheimer's Association Lifetime Achievement Award 2011. Blennow holds the Torsten Söderberg Academy Professorship in Medicine since January 2015. 

Kaj Blennow, GU