معرفی
Niklas Björkström is a Professor/Specialist Physician at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Sweden, affiliated with the Department of Medicine, Huddinge. He leads the Human tissue-resident NK cells research group and is based at the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM). His dual role combines academic leadership with clinical work at Karolinska University Hospital's Clinical Microbiology department.
Education: Björkström earned his MD (2010) and PhD (2011) in Immunology from KI. He completed postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, before returning to KI as a Principal Investigator in 2014 and becoming a Professor in 2023. He holds an Associate Professor title (2016).
Research Interests: His laboratory focuses on understanding human tissue-resident lymphocytes, particularly natural killer (NK) cells, in the liver, uterus, and other organs. Key areas include NK cell biology in liver diseases (e.g., PSC, NASH, hepatitis viruses) and pregnancy immunology. Techniques used include high-dimensional flow cytometry, CyTOF, microscopy, and computational tools (e.g., SPADE, SNE). The group collaborates with Hannover Medical School and the International PSC Study Group.
Awards: Björkström has received prestigious honors such as the ERC Starting Grant (2020), Anders Jahre Award (2020), and NovoNordisk Foundation Emerging Investigator (2021). He is also a Wallenberg Academy Fellow (2017–2021).
Grants & Advising: He oversees grants like the Swedish Cancer Foundation (2021–2023) and Karolinska Institutet's KID and Assistant Professor Tenure Track grants. Advised students include Christine Zimmer (PhD), Lena Berglin, and others now in postdoc roles or industry positions.
Labs & Teams: The Björkström group is part of KI's Department of Medicine, Huddinge, and maintains close ties with clinical units at Karolinska University Hospital. They have open postdoctoral positions and collaborate internationally on liver and pregnancy immunology projects.
