Ralph Gräsbeck Grant awarded to Olli Dufva for studying blood on a single-cell level

The Minerva Foundation has awarded the 2026 Ralph Gräsbeck Grant to MD, PhD Olli Dufva. Based in Cambridge, Dufva focuses on imaging and analysing blood cells with unprecedented precision.

The €10,000 grant is awarded every two years to a researcher who has earned a doctoral degree in laboratory medicine within the past seven years and has since continued to conduct high-quality, innovative research in the field.

A new way to analyse blood samples

Dufva’s research uses single-cell technology, which makes it possible to examine individual cells from a blood sample one at a time. While a conventional blood count measures the numbers of different blood cells and platelets, high-resolution analysis provides a much more detailed picture.

“We analyse around 2,000 cells from a blood sample and measure gene expression in every single cell. This allows us to identify precisely which specific cell types are present in the blood and in what quantities. We can also determine whether any of these cell types differ from what is typically found in a healthy person,” Dufva explains.

High-resolution data can be used to investigate how different diseases, genetics and other factors affect immune cells circulating in the blood.

“This helps us understand what role these cells may play in different diseases and whether high-resolution data can shed light on the factors underlying changes in blood counts,” Dufva says.

The scale of the research is considerable. Blood samples have been collected from more than 5,000 donors, and individual cells from each donor have been sequenced. This extensive dataset makes it possible to establish reference ranges for data at this level of detail.

A vision for deeper insights into the immune system

The long-term vision is to use the dataset as a reference when assessing abnormalities in patients’ blood cell counts. This could help determine whether an unusual finding indicates disease or falls within the normal range, taking the patient’s age and medical history into account.

“If this kind of high-resolution technology can be introduced into routine clinical practice, a single blood sample could provide much more information than it does today. Most importantly, it could reveal information that current methods cannot capture,” Dufva explains.

His research focuses particularly on immune cells circulating in the blood. These cells travel to different tissues and influence various disease processes. A blood sample can therefore serve as a window into the state of the immune system.

“The immune system affects a great many diseases. We are gaining an increasingly detailed understanding of its role in different conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, where it has not traditionally been considered a major factor.”

An important recognition along the way

Dufva’s journey to the research field began with a biotechnology course in upper secondary school, where he learned about sequencing and gene editing.

“That sparked my interest. I had a strong feeling that I wanted to explore the subject in greater depth,” Dufva says.

After completing his medical studies, Dufva focused on cancer research. His doctoral thesis examined functional immunogenomics in blood cancers.

Since completing his doctorate, his research has increasingly focused on large-scale genomic datasets. In 2023, he began working in Cambridge at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge. His research is now being recognised with the Ralph Gräsbeck Grant.

“I am truly honoured to receive this grant. The greatest reward, of course, is seeing research benefit patients and medicine. But recognitions like this are also very important along the way,” Dufva says.