Dr Palmqvist and BioFINDER receive SEK 190 million grant
2026
Lund, 24 September 2026. Associate Professor of neuroscience Sebastian Palmqvist, Lund University, also a member of the BioFINDER executive group, in collaboration with other researchers, has been awarded a SEK 190 million grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging.
The funding will support research and clinical validation of a new blood-based diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease. The test measures the biomarker MTBR-tau243 in blood. The aim is a test that can determine how far the disease has progressed and predict imminent deterioration, and to apply for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within five years. The project runs from 2026 to 2031.
Dr Palmqvist, who is also a senior lecturer in neurology at Lund University and a senior consultant at Skåne University Hospital, leads the project. His Lund colleagues Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren, Erik Stomrud, Shorena Janelidze and Gemma Salvadó are also involved. The project is carried out in collaboration with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Alabama and the St. Louis- based diagnostics company C2N Diagnostics.
“It’s a great pleasure to receive this grant to carry out such a clinically significant project for a large and vulnerable group of patients,”
Sebastian Palmqvist