More than 50 speakers and over 200 participants, including ambassadors from the Italian, Japanese and Spanish embassies as well as world-leading scientific representatives from South Africa, Spain, Italy and Japan, were brought together with additional national and international stakeholders at Aula Medica in Stockholm.
The event was funded via the VR Network grant for Planning Future Excellence Clusters and marked a critical step in transforming individual contributions into a coherent and shared vision for the excellence cluster.
Representatives from disciplines including physics, biology, medicine, AI and humanities came together to address one of the central challenges in modern life science: how do proteins fold and misfold in real times - and how can we intervene when this process goes wrong?
“Our cluster unites Swedish leaders in biophysics, molecular biology, medicine, simulations and AI to track protein folding in real time and at single-molecule resolution”, says Sviatlana Shashkova, associate senior lecturer at the Department of Physics.
“Using high-speed force spectroscopy, multiscale microscopy, nanochannel technologies and deep-learning models, we uncover the rules of folding and misfolding to drive new diagnostics, therapies, and prevention strategies. With protein-folding research entering a new era of real time and AI-driven approaches, Sweden has a unique opportunity to shape the global landscape. By coordinating national expertise and infrastructure, our cluster positions Sweden to lead this transformation.”
The conference served to:
- Synthesize insights from the thematic workshops.
- Refine the scientific vision and strategic priorities.
- Identify key partners and collaboration opportunities.
- Discuss infrastructure needs and organizational models.
- Coordinate a Perspective article
