Bernharð Pálsson awarded honorary doctorate from DTU

Bernharð Örn Pálsson, visiting professor in systems biology at the University of Iceland and professor at the University of California San Diego, was last week awarded an honorary doctorate from DTU (Danmarks Tekniske Universitet) at a ceremony attended by Queen Mary of Denmark. DTU is not only one of the most prestigious universities in the Nordic countries, but also one of the best technical universities in the world. DTU is now placed 125 in the Times Higher Education (THE) University Ranking.

Just one other Icelander has ever received an honorary doctorate from DTU: the engineer Lauritz Sigvald Jóhannesson in 1951. Lauritz Sigvald (1877-1953) was famous for designing the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey, a bridge-causeway crossing the Passaic and Hassensack rivers between Newark and Jersey City. Bernharð Pálsson has been globally recognised as a pioneer in systems biology for many years and a leader in the field for almost a quarter of a century. His research marked the beginning of a new era in life science early this century, at which time Bernharð led the UI Centre for Systems Biology, which twice received major ERC grants.

Bernharð led DTU Biosustain for 12 years

Bernharð led DTU Biosustain, a systems biology research centre, for 12 years from 2010 to 2022, achieving outstanding success in the role. His leadership helped secure major international research grants for DTU, delivered extremely interesting research findings and led to many discoveries and start-up companies at DTU. During Bernharð’s time as director of Biosustain, DTU received the equivalent of ISK 84 billion in research funding. The research centre itself is internationally classified under the subject of biotechnology and is ranked third in the world in that field according to THE.

“Around 40 start-ups have been established in connection with research at Biosustain,” says Bernharð. “Before the centre was set up, there was not much interest in start-ups at DTU. These companies have raised the equivalent of around USD 500 million in capital.”

Bernharð says that this doctorate is one of the greatest honours he has received in the course of his long career as a scientist. Much of the research at Biosustain has been based on changing the functions of living cells in order to use them to produce various enzymes, especially for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. A large proportion of all insulin produced in Denmark is now produced using specially altered bacterial cells, developed thanks to basic research at DTU.

“Bernharð is one of our leading experts in computational analysis of cellular metabolism and has been a pioneer in genome-scale metabolic modelling and engineering,” said Anders O. Bjarklev, president of DTU, in his speech at the ceremony in Copenhagen last week.

“One of Bernharð’s most significant contributions has been to integrate systems biology, biology and metabolic engineering in order to develop tools that enable us to design and maximise production in microbial cells.”

Bjarklev argued that Bernharð’s vision, ambition and creativity during his time as director of Biosustain had a significant impact not only on research and innovation at DTU, but also the entire Danish biotechnology sector.

This is not the first honorary doctorate presented to Bernharð – he is also an honorary doctor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, having worked with that university extensively during his career.

A globally recognised scientist

Bernharð Pálsson has spent most of his career living and working in the USA, but has also been involved in research this side of the Atlantic, including in Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. He is globally recognised for his research, having authored over 800 papers and 46 patents and being a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.For a long time, he was on the list of highly cited researchers compiled by Clarivate Analytics, an international ranking which includes just 1% of researchers in each subject. The list is based on data from the Web of Science. Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the UI and professor at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is currently on this list. Jón Atli has also been admitted to the US National Academy of Engineering, making him and Bernharð the only two Icelanders to have achieved this honour.

Incredible advances in systems biology research

Many people might be wondering what ‘systems biology’ is, since the term is still not widely known. Systems biology is a branch of life science that seeks to understand organisms and biological processes as synergistic systems. The discipline incorporates approaches from biology, biochemistry, engineering, mathematics, computer science and physics to model the ways in which cells, genes, proteins and metabolisms function together in complex systems or large networks.Instead of looking at individual parts of an organism (such as a single gene or a single protein) systems biologists look at the ways in which many components work together and influence each other – such as how gene control, metabolic processes and signalling systems form a coherent whole.

Bernharð Pálsson, scientist and guitar player 

Bernharð Pálsson was born in 1957, the son of Erna Arnar and Páll Vígkonarson. He completed his matriculation examination from Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð, where he began studying aged just 15. He then enrolled at UI, where he studied chemical engineering, although UI only offered a two-year programme in this subject at the time. Afterwards, Bernharð headed to the USA where he completed a BS degree in chemistry from the University of Kansas. He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin.

Bernharð is an incredibly ambitious and hard-working scientist and a strong academic leader with the ability to successfully manage large teams. He is also a talented chess player and, something not many people know, an accomplished musician who plays both classical and electric guitar.