Obesity research wins Fernström Prize

This year’s Fernström Foundation Nordic Prize, worth SEK 1 million, goes to Professor Peter Arner from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, who conducts research on fat. His team was the first to show that fat cells are formed throughout one's lifetime, not just in childhood. He has also discovered certain genes that provide protection against the negative effects of fat cells and shown how fat cells are affected by abdominal obesity, which is more dangerous than fat in other parts of the body. Shipowner Eric K. Fernström's foundation is based at the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University. The Foundation awards an annual Nordic prize of SEK 1 million and local prizes of SEK 100 000 each to promising young researchers at Sweden's six university medical faculties. The Nordic Prize has prize money of SEK 1 million. This year's prize recognises Peter Arner's work to "increase understanding of the function and regulation of human fat tissue and its major significance in health and disease".