Mia Phillipson

Natural Sciences Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Physiology, Uppsala University.
Co-director, SciLifeLab

Mia Phillipson received her PhD in Physiology at Uppsala University in 2003 and pursued her post-
doc at the University of Calgary. She returned to Uppsala University in 2006, and has been Pro-
fessor of Physiology there since 2014. Her research combines the fields of immunology and physio-
logy by using cutting-edge intravital imaging and molecular and functional characterization, and she
is the author of more than 60 scientific publications. A major effort of the Phillipson laboratory has
been directed towards delineating different functions of discrete subsets of immune cells during homeo-
stasis as well as during injury and tissue restitution, with the ultimate goal of using their discoveries in
developing novel therapies to treat disease. Among the most important discoveries of the Phillipson la-
boratory are the alternative roles of immune cells in restoration of blood perfusion following injury and
transplantation. More specifically, a subpopulation of neutrophils that drives blood vessel formation
following injury has been discovered, as well as the fact that macrophages take on blood flow regulation
crucial for tissue healing.

Based on the cutting-edge medical research at her lab, Phillipson co-founded Ilya Pharma in 2016, a com-
pany which develops next-generation biological drugs for treating wounds in skin and mucosa. The first
clinical trial was performed in 2020. Phillipson was appointed a Ragnar Söderberg Research Fellow in
Medicine in 2012, a Wallenberg Academy Fellow in 2012 and a Wallenberg Academy Scholar in 2019.
She was a selected member of the Young Academy of Sweden during 2016–20, where she was the
spokesperson for research politics and part of the management. In 2021, Phillipson was appointed co-
director of SciLifeLab.

At SCAS, Phillipson will apply a data-driven, unbiased approach to reveal new and site-specific roles of
immune cells important for organ function and maintenance of homeostasis.


This information is accurate as of the academic year 2021-22.