Prof. Dr. Thomas Perlmann

Thomas Perlmann is a professor of molecular developmental biology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He holds a MSc in chemistry and biology from Stockholm University and a doctorate in medical sciences from Karolinska Institutet (1991). He conducted postdoctoral research at the Salk Institute in San Diego before joining the faculty of Karolinska Institutet in 1993. He later served as head of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology (2003–2006) and as Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Stockholm Branch (2007–2017).

Perlmann’s research focuses on the development and function of dopamine-producing neurons, with current interest in understanding why specific populations of these neurons are particularly vulnerable in Parkinson’s disease. His work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Göran Gustafsson Prize (1999), and the Torsten Söderberg Academy Professorship in Medicine (2017). In 2025, he was awarded His Majesty the King’s Medal twelfth size with the ribbon of the Order of the Seraphim.

He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Academia Europaea. He is a member of the Nobel Assembly, since 2006 and has served as its Secretary-General since 2016. He is also vice chair of the board of the Nobel Foundation and a board member of the Nobel Center Foundation.