Mikael Elofsson's Biography

Mikael Elofsson, Professor, University of Umeå

In 1996 Mikael Elofsson obtained his Ph.D. in in synthetic organic chemistry at the Lund Institute of Technology, Lund, Sweden. In the lab of Prof. Jan Kihlberg he worked with synthesis of glycosylated amino acids and their application in solid-phase synthesis of MHC class II binding glycopeptides. Thereafter he spent three years as postdoc in the lab of Prof. Craig M. Crews at Yale University, CT, USA working primarily on epoxyketone proteasome inhibitors. The work eventually led to the drug Kyprolis (Carfilzomib) that was approved by FDA in 2012. In 1999 Mikael was recruited to the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University. His lab focuses on a screening based chemical biology approach to study and understand bacterial and viral virulence as well epigenetic and metabolic enzymes. Mikael is engaged in several spin-off companies that exploit the commercial potential of the projects. In addition Mikael is a platform director in the national infrastructure Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden.