Nils Göran Larsson

I started my career as a clinically active physician and after completing my specialist degree in Paediatrics and my doctoral thesis at the University of Gothenburg, I continued as an HHMI Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University. Since 1997 I have been active at Karolinska Institutet and was Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany from 2008 to 2015. My research area has always been focused on mitochondria and how impaired mitochondrial function causes disease in humans. I also have a strong interest in molecular regulation of mtDNA expression. Over the years, I have trained many researchers who have then gone on to independent careers. For further description, see my CV and profile page below.

More about me on my external homepage

Management experience:

Mitochondrial Medicine Center 2005-2008 KI Campus Syd

Director and Managing Director, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Köln, Tyskland 2008-2015

Head of Department MBB 2016-2018

Vice Chairman/Chairman Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine 2019-2021.

Member of Konsistoriet 2022-2024.

Visions for my assignment in the board (Konsistoriet) of Karolinska Institutet:

My contribution will be based on my long national and international experience in basic and translational medical research. I also have experience in training doctors and extensive experience in supervising doctoral students. Karolinska Institutet's researchers have been very successful in attracting different types of external research funding. Unfortunately, this has led to an uncontrolled expansion with a large gap between the level of government funding, which is used for payment of teacher salaries, rents, IT fees, co-financing, etc., as well as available external research grants. The existing government appropriations (intramural resources) are insufficient in relation to the size of the activities. At present, various funding sources therefore have too much influence over recruitment and the focus of research at KI. It is clear that KI needs to review its size and consolidate its operations. The service structure for young researchers is also poorly defined and should be reviewed. In this context, it must be recalled that major discoveries are rarely the result of strategic initiatives, but often arise when researchers are given resources to process long-term scientific problems that typically lie outside the currently popular research directions. Major fundamental discoveries often lead to a number of new applications, and researchers at KI must therefore be given the conditions to deliver such important breakthroughs. I want to help accelerate these changes by contributing to a strategic vision in the Konsistorium.