Margareta Wilhelm studies how brain tumours and tumours of the nervous system grow in children. The aim of her research is to identify new therapeutic targets. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year’s installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 8 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2026
How do brain tumours and tumours of the nervous system arise in children, and how can they be treated more effectively while reducing long-term side effects? These questions are central to Margareta Wilhelm’s research.
Photo: Erik Flyg
Her work focuses primarily on medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma, two aggressive forms of childhood cancer. Although many children today survive these diseases, the treatments can have long-lasting and adverse side-effects, such as cognitive difficulties, hormonal disorders, and an increased risk of developing cancer later in life.
The development of better treatments requires a deeper understanding of the biological processes that drive the tumours and determine how they respond to therapy. To achieve this, Margareta Wilhelm and her research group have developed advanced disease models based on stem-cell techniques and laboratory-grown models that mimic brain tissue.
“These models have provided new insights into the earliest steps of tumour formation and how to identify new targets for treatment”, she says.
About Margareta Wilhelm
Professor of Tumour Biology at the Department of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell Biology as of 1 January 2026
Margareta Wilhelm was born in Hallstahammar in 1973. She completed her undergraduate studies in Molecular Biology at Umeå University in 1999 and obtained her PhD in experimental oncology at Karolinska Institutet in 2003. She later conducted postdoctoral research at the Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute in Toronto, Canada. Since 2013, she has been a research group leader at Karolinska Institutet focusing on tumour biology and precision medicine for children with cancer.
