Gunnar von Heijne | |
---|---|
Born | Nils Gunnar Hansson von Heijne 10 June 1951 |
Nationality | Swedish |
Awards | Björkénska priset (1998) Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award[1] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Royal Institute of Technology |
Institutions | Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet |
Professor Nils Gunnar Hansson von Heijne, born 10 June 1951 in Gothenburg, is a Swedish scientist[2] working on signal peptides, membrane proteins[3][4][5] and bioinformatics[6][7] at the Stockholm Center for Biomembrane Research at Stockholm University.
Gunnar von Heijne graduated 1975 with a Master of Science degree in chemistry and chemical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).[8] He then became a doctoral student in theoretical physics at KTH, in a research group focussing on statistical mechanics and theoretical biophysics, and was awarded his Ph.D. in 1980.[9] In 1983 he was made docent in theoretical biophysics at KTH, where he remained until 1988. 1982-1985 he was active as a science reporter at Sveriges Radio. 1989-1994 he was active at Karolinska Institutet, and in 1994 he was made a professor in theoretical chemistry at Stockholm University.[8]
von Heijne's research primarily concerns membrane proteins, and he is one of the most cited Swedish scientists in the areas of biochemistry and molecular biology.[10] He heads the Center for Biomembrane Research at Stockholm University.[11]
In 2012 he was awarded the Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award[1] by the International Society for Computational Biology.
von Heijne is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1997 and a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry from 2001 to 2009, and the Committees chairman from 2007 to 2009. In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate at Åbo Akademi.[10]