I’m a retired scientist turned fiction author. I have extensive experience writing grant proposals, scientific journal articles, and books. In writing fiction, I draw on my background in leading genomics and molecular sciences research as Chief Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the Pacific Northwest National Lab.
When I’m not writing, I spend much time in the kitchen, cooking or baking. I favor vegan and vegetarian dishes, as well as sourdough rye bread. I also like playing chess, board games, hiking, and spending time with children and grandchildren. I live with my wife, a dog, and a cat in Berthoud, Colorado, on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
I hold a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Lund University in Sweden. My research background and expertise lie in biochemistry. and molecular biology. I served as the Director of Plant Sciences at the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where I worked from 2014 until my retirement in 2021. I moved to PNNL from Berkeley, California, in 2014, where I 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, I was Head of the Department of Plant Biology & Forest Genetics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden, where I held the Professor Chair in Molecular Cell Biology from 1999 to 2008. From 1994 to 1999, I was a Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at Stockholm University.
I earned my Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Lund University and completed postdoctoral research at the Plant Research Laboratory at Michigan State University. My research focused on plant, algal, and cyanobacterial biochemistry and molecular biology. Specifically, I have explored plant genotypic diversity and how plant genotype interacts with environmental variables to influence plant phenotypes and the integrated plant-microbiome-soil-atmosphere interactome. I have published over 130 papers in journals and books and have supervised several graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. I 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.