Professor Korsgren's research activity has been focused on making islet transplantation a possible treatment for patients with type I diabetes. This has led him into several different areas from the ontogeny of the fetal pancreas and the development of techniques to make human islet isolation possible in spite of the immunological problems involved in islet allo- and xenotransplantation. He is the Principal Investigator of the Nordic Network for clinical islet transplantation.

Professor Korsgren has received several honors and awards, and he is frequently invited to give seminars and lectures at international meetings and workshops. He serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He is also an inventor and has been awarded five patents.