Ulf Landegren: From scientific discovery to successful companies

It was as a young postdoctoral researcher at Caltech in the 1980s that Ulf Landegren made an invention – a method for distinguishing between different gene variants – that would eventually lead to a series of patents and new companies. Many of his subsequent innovations stem from that original idea, he tells Life Science Focus.

“You could accuse me of being rather narrow-minded, because much of what we do is variations on the same theme, which broadly evolved in two different directions. One led to what we call padlock probes. The other built on the same old idea from my time in the US – namely, that two strands of DNA can be joined together. We call this proximity ligation, and the two ideas have led to several companies,” he says.

Padlock probes can be described as an ingenious way of designing DNA strands so that they form circles that wrap around the target molecule. This has proved highly advantageous in applications including cancer diagnostics.

Proximity ligation is the method for large-scale protein analysis that underpins the success of Olink Proteomics, which was subsequently sold to Thermo Fisher for nearly 3 billion dollars.

A common thread running through many of Ulf Landegren’s innovations is that they have given researchers new tools to predict, detect and monitor disease.

“My aim is to make it possible to understand biology in ways that were previously impossible.”

Many people are familiar with the success of Olink Proteomics, but Ulf Landegren has also co-founded several other companies including Halo Genomics, Q-linea, Navinci, Rarity, SampleFacts and Readily.

What drives you to keep making discoveries and turning them into companies?

“It’s intellectually exciting. You work on something in the lab and try to get it to work well enough. Then, in a way, it’s a huge relief when someone else suddenly takes over responsibility for it – namely, the CEO of the new company you have set up.

“But it’s also quite emotionally challenging, because you go from being completely in charge and knowing best about everything to suddenly having someone else take care of your kid. At the same time, it’s great fun to see something you’ve worked on suddenly grow up and become something bigger.”

For decades, the Molecular Tools research group at Uppsala University has been known not only as a breeding ground for innovative molecular methods, but also for nurturing an exceptional number of talented researchers and entrepreneurs. Former members of Landegren’s group include Mats Nilsson, Simon Fredriksson, Olle Ericsson, Jonas Jarvius and Liza Löf. The list goes on.

Why do you think so many outstanding researchers began their careers with you?

“A lot of it probably comes down to the fact that they knew about each other, and perhaps about me too. People knew that this lab was full of smart people who wanted to do something with their ideas, and that made other smart people want to join it as well.”

On Wednesday, 21 October, Ulf Landegren will receive a new entrepreneurship award from Forska!Sverige, a Swedish foundation working to attract and strengthen medical research and life science companies in Sweden, while ensuring that medical advances benefit patients more quickly.

 The award has been established in memory of inventor Leif Lundblad (1938–2025), who was known for, among other things, developing the technology used to handle banknotes in ATMs. His inventions also included motorboats, new technology for car engines, a pancake-making machine and shoes with built-in ventilation, to name just a few.

Later in life, he also became one of Sweden’s leading philanthropists, making substantial donations to areas including dementia research.

Leif Lundblad was an inventor and entrepreneur through and through – a description that seems to fit you rather well, too?

“Yes, I thought I would become a conventional biological researcher, but it turned out that I would become more involved in technology development. Like Leif Lundblad, I want the things I work on to be put to as much practical use as possible, and it’s rewarding if I can help others. I think Leif Lundblad was very keen to help other people succeed, and to some extent, I try to do the same.”