Christer Jansson is a retired scientist turned fiction author. He has extensive experience writing successful grant proposals, scientific journal articles, and books. In writing Genes of the Past—his debut novel—Christer drew on his background in leading genomics and molecular sciences research as Chief Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the Pacific Northwest National Lab. With his second book, The Prairie Dogs and the Alien, Christer continues his foray into speculative fiction, adding a touch of fantasy. When he’s not writing, Christer spends much time in the kitchen, cooking or baking. He favors vegetarian dishes and sourdough bread and enjoys trying new recipes and dining out. He also likes playing chess, hiking, and spending time with children and grandchildren. He lives with his wife, a dog, and a cat in Berthoud, Colorado, on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
Christer holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Lund University in Sweden. His research background and expertise lie in plant biochemistry. He served as the Director of Plant Sciences at the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where he worked from 2014 until his retirement in 2021. He moved to PNNL from Berkeley, California, in 2014, where he was a Senior Staff Scientist and Deputy Program Lead in Bioenergy at the Earth Sciences Division (ESD) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Before that, he was Head of the Department of Plant Biology & Forest Genetics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden, where he held the Professor Chair in Molecular Cell Biology from 1999 to 2008. From 1994 to 1999, he was a Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at Stockholm University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Lund University and completed postdoctoral research at the Plant Research Laboratory at Michigan State University. His research focuses on plant, algal, and cyanobacterial biochemistry and molecular biology. Specifically, he has explored plant genotypic diversity and how plant genotype interacts with environmental variables to influence plant phenotypes and the integrated plant-microbiome-soil-atmosphere interactome. He has published over 130 papers in journals and books and has supervised numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. He has also served on several advisory boards, research panels, and committees, including the Committee for Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences.
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