Dr. Arne Holmgren was a distinguished Swedish biochemist and redox pioneer who made seminal contributions to cellular redox biology throughout his career at Karolinska Institutet. Born on December 21, 1940, in Björkvik, Sweden, he completed his medical studies at Uppsala University in 1962 before earning his PhD in Physiological Chemistry from Karolinska Institutet in 1968. He became a certified physician in 1974 and held numerous academic positions at Karolinska Institutet, progressing from assistant professor in 1969 to university lecturer, research docent, and eventually becoming Professor of Medical Protein Chemistry and Enzymology in 1983. From 1991 to 2008, he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the Medical Nobel Institute and directed the institute from 1992 to 2008 before becoming a Senior Professor until his death.
Dr. Holmgren's groundbreaking research pioneered the structural and functional understanding of thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase systems, with his doctoral work on Escherichia coli thioredoxin establishing the foundation for an entirely new scientific discipline. He discovered and named glutaredoxin, elucidating fundamental sulfur and selenium-dependent redox mechanisms that are crucial for DNA synthesis, defense against oxidative stress, and cellular signaling across all living organisms from bacteria to humans. His investigations revealed these redox systems' critical importance in cancer biology and therapeutic approaches for infectious diseases and inflammatory conditions. With over 420 publications cited more than 40,000 times, his work established the biochemical principles that now underpin modern redox biology as a distinct scientific field.
Elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1991, Dr. Holmgren also served as a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, helping to select Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine. He received numerous prestigious awards including the Thé Svedberg Prize in 1979 for his discovery of glutaredoxin, the Abraham Spector Prize from Columbia University in 2006, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Nancy in 2009. As a dedicated mentor, he trained generations of scientists, including Professor Elias Arnér who succeeded him as head of the biochemistry division. Dr. Holmgren passed away on January 6, 2020 at age 79, leaving behind an enduring scientific legacy that continues to shape redox biology research worldwide and influence therapeutic approaches to cancer, infectious diseases, and inflammatory conditions.
