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Research Highlights

Lund University

Lund, Sweden

Sweden's research powerhouse, pairing the MAX IV synchrotron and the ESS neutron source with world-class medicine, photonics and migration biology.

Founded in 1666, Lund University is one of northern Europe's oldest and most comprehensive research universities, spanning engineering, medicine, science, social sciences, humanities, law and the arts from its base in southern Sweden. Its research estate is anchored by MAX IV, the national synchrotron radiation laboratory whose ultra-bright X-rays serve scientists worldwide, and by the adjacent European Spallation Source, the multinational neutron facility taking shape on the city's edge. Flagship environments such as NanoLund, the Lund Laser Centre, the Lund Stem Cell Center and the BioFINDER programme in neurodegeneration give the university depth in materials science, photonics, regenerative medicine and dementia diagnostics, while long traditions in evolutionary biology, bird migration research and climate science keep it prominent in the environmental disciplines. Clinical research is pursued hand in hand with Skåne University Hospital, and the university's role in European collaborations, from Horizon Europe projects to the League of European Research Universities, underlines a global outlook that belies the city's modest size.

A year of research

18 highlights, November 2025 to October 2026
October 2026

Soft brain electrodes developed in Lund enter first human trials

A high-definition brain stimulation system using tissue-friendly electrodes thinner than a human hair is being tested in patients with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor at Skåne University Hospital.

September 2026

Epilepsy drug linked to sharp fall in migraine aura days

A retrospective Lund University study of 81 patients found that lamotrigine, long prescribed for epilepsy, was associated with an 80 per cent reduction in monthly aura days.

September 2026

Exocomets may be ferrying water through a young planetary system

Lund astronomers found sodium gas signatures around the young star PDS 70 consistent with sublimating comets, offering a model for how water reaches newborn planets.

August 2026

How damaged red blood cells set off inflammation

Lund researchers show that free heme released by ruptured red blood cells activates an inflammatory protein cascade, and that an existing drug can block the pathway in experimental models.

August 2026

Stem cell molecule exposes how a childhood brain tumour develops

Lund researchers studying the blood stem cell expander UM171 uncovered how KBTBD4 mutations lock cells in a stem-like state, pointing to existing drugs as possible medulloblastoma treatments.

July 2026

First results from Europe's pioneering Parkinson's stem cell trial

The Lund-led STEM-PD trial transplanted dopamine progenitor cells derived from embryonic stem cells into eight patients, reporting safety and early signs of graft survival in Nature Medicine.

July 2026

Artificial protein motor takes its first controlled steps

An international team led from Lund built Tumbleweed, a designed protein walker that steps along a DNA track under external chemical control, published in Nature Nanotechnology.

June 2026

Six universities unite to build Sweden's national quantum centre

Lund joins Chalmers, KTH, Stockholm, Linköping and Uppsala in a declaration of intent to coordinate Swedish quantum research, innovation and education, with Chalmers as coordinator.

June 2026

Lund builds world's first real-time 256-antenna 6G testbed

Engineers at LTH demonstrated a distributed wireless network of 256 digitally beamformed antennas running in real time, a platform for testing how 6G networks can extract more from scarce spectrum.

May 2026

Blood test flags breast cancer relapse more than a year early

A prospective Lund study of 136 patients found circulating tumour DNA revealed recurrence a median of 13.8 months before it became clinically visible, in some cases nearly four years earlier.

April 2026

Tiny sensors map a songbird's extreme desert crossings

Thrush nightingales weighing about 25 grams cross deserts in four to five consecutive night flights, resting almost motionless by day, Lund researchers report in Biology Letters.

April 2026

Male infertility linked to raised risk of certain cancers

A registry study of more than 1.1 million Swedish fathers found men who conceived through ICSI had roughly twice the risk of colorectal cancer and three times the risk of thyroid cancer.

March 2026

One blood sample, several brain diseases: AI model shows promise

Using protein measurements from more than 17,000 people, a Lund-led team trained a joint-learning model that helps distinguish Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS and other conditions, published in Nature Medicine.

February 2026

Vertebrate vision traces back to a single ancestral eye

Comparative analysis by Lund and Sussex researchers suggests all vertebrates descend from a worm-like creature with one median eye, whose parts were repurposed into our image-forming eyes.

February 2026

A genetic brake on blood vessel growth shapes endurance

Lund physiologists link a RAB3GAP2 variant to capillary density in muscle: roughly twice as common in Swedish endurance athletes as in non-athletes, and vanishingly rare in elite sprinters.

January 2026

AI-supported breast screening cuts interval cancers in trial of 106,000 women

Final results of the Lund-led MASAI trial report 12 per cent fewer interval cancers and a 44 per cent reduction in radiologist screen-reading workload, published in The Lancet.

December 2025

A single shot captures the shape of ultrashort laser pulses

Lund atomic physicists used a diffraction grating to stretch femtosecond pulses more than tenfold, enabling full single-shot characterisation across a wide range of durations, published in Optica.

November 2025

Öresund link could safely serve for 200 years

Lund engineers combined degradation modelling with data from more than 5,500 sensors to show the Öresund crossing's service life can be doubled from its original 100-year design estimate.