Prof Karl Tryggvason Division Chief Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics Karolinska Institutet

Karl Tryggvason, MD, PhD, is specialist in Clinical Chemistry and Professor of Medical Chemistry at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. His research concerns the molecular nature and diseases of a connective tissue called basement membranes (BM). Dr. Tryggvason’s main research focus is the kidney filtration system and its diseases. He has determined the causes of the kidney diseases like Alport and congenital nephrotic syndromes, but also of the BM diseases junctional epidermolysis bullosa and congenital muscular dystrophy. Tryggvason currently applies a systems biology approach to diseases of the renal filter including identification of novel glomerular proteins, molecular signatures of disease processes and identification of susceptibility genes for diabetic nephropathy. Another main theme is specific BM proteins called laminins and their roles in stem cell biology.

Tryggvason has published 380 research articles. He is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, Vice-Chairman of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, and he has received several international awards, mainly for his kidney research, including the American Society of Nephrology Homer Smith Award and Louis Jeantet and Anders Jahre awards. Tryggvason is founder of four companies, including NephroGenex, Inc. (USA) that develops a drug for diabetic kidney disease.

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