Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede Explained

Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede
Birth Date:31 August 1968
Birth Place:Umeå, Sweden
Citizenship:Swedish and American
Nationality:Swedish
Fields:Biochemistry, Biophysics, Chemistry
Alma Mater:Chalmers University of Technology
Thesis Title:Intelligent nucleic acid interactions with peptide nucleic acids and in recombination proteins
Thesis Url:http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/publication/1105-intelligent-nucleic-acid-interactions-with-peptide-nucleic-acid-pna-and-recombination-enzyme-reca
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Thesis Year:1996
Doctoral Advisor:Bengt Nordén
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Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede (maiden name Wittung) is a Swedish biophysical chemist, born in 1968, who is a professor of chemical biology at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. In 2019 she was named by International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry as a Distinguished Woman in Chemistry.

Education

She received her Master of Science Degree in Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology and a doctorate at the same institution in 1996 in biophysical chemistry under Bengt Nordén,[1] with a thesis entitled Intelligent nucleic acid interactions with peptide nucleic acids and in recombination proteins.[2]

Employment

After her Ph.D., she worked for twelve years in the United States at the California Institute of Technology, Beckman Institute in Pasadena, California (1997–98), Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana[3] (1999-2003) and Rice University in Houston, Texas[4] (2004-2008).[5]

In 2008, she returned to Sweden to a professor position at Umeå University. Since September 2015, she has been a professor at Chalmers University of Technology and was the head of the Chemical Biology division. She leads a research group that focuses on the biophysical properties of proteins; both metal-transporting proteins and proteins that fold incorrectly and clump together. The research is basic science, but has links to diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer.[6]

In 2010, Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede was one of ten researchers in Sweden, appointed as a Wallenberg Scholar, receiving a grant awarded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation that she has renewed several times (most recently in 2024).[7]

In 2017 she was elected a member of the council of Biophysical Society (BPS).[8] It was the second time ever for a Swedish scientist; the first one was Arne Engström 1960–1963.[9]

In 2020, she became a member of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Committee, and since 2021 she is a council member for The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.[10]

In 2019 she started Genie at Chalmers, a 300 MSEK gender equality initiative funded by the Chalmers Foundation and led it for four years.[11]

Awards and honors

Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede has received a number of awards and prizes. These include:

Bibliography

Pernilla has published over 260 scientific peer-reviewed articles since her first in 1994 (h index Google scholar 58, April 2024) and over 50 popular articles.Full list on her Orcid[26] or Scopus[27]

Personal life

Wittung-Stafshede is married to Patric Stafshede and they have two daughters, Selma and Hilda Stafshede.

References

  1. Web site: Chalmers University of Technology | Chalmers . www.chalmers.se . 14 July 2017.
  2. Intelligent Nucleic Acid Interactions with Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) and Recombination Enzyme RecA . publications.lib.chalmers.se . 1996. 7 March 2017. Wittung. Pernilla.
  3. Web site: Tulane University - Protein Folding Unraveled. www2.tulane.edu. en. 2017-07-17.
  4. Web site: Home Page. www.bioc.rice.edu. 2017-07-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20051218152547/http://www.bioc.rice.edu/pernilla/. 2005-12-18. dead.
  5. Web site: Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede new Head of Division of Chemical Biology. www.chalmers.se. en-us. 2017-07-17.
  6. Web site: Pernilla Wittung Stafshede. www.chalmers.se. en-us. 2017-07-17.
  7. Web site: Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation . Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation . 2024-07-04.
  8. Web site: Biophysical Society Council 2017 Election Results. Biophysical Society. 15 August 2017.
  9. Web site: Past Council. Society. Biophysical. www.biophysics.org. en-US. 2017-08-15.
  10. Web site: Royen . Ulrika . The Nobel Committee for Chemistry . NobelPrize.org . 2018-08-14 . 2024-07-04.
  11. Web site: Karlsson . Robert . "Many people at Chalmers want to engage in gender equality" . Chalmers tekniska högskola . 2020-03-09 . 2024-07-04.
  12. Web site: National Fresenius Award. chemgroups.northwestern.edu. 7 March 2017.
  13. Web site: Prizes and medals acknowledged during the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' 187:th annual meeting. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 7 March 2017.
  14. Web site: Prizes and medals acknowledged during the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' 187:th annual meeting. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 7 March 2017.
  15. Web site: Fellows. Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies. 7 March 2017.
  16. Web site: List of recipients. Swedish Chemical Society. 7 March 2017.
  17. Web site: Pernilla Wittung Stafshede. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 7 March 2017.
  18. Web site: Wittung-Stafshede new member of KVVS. Chalmers University of Technology. 7 March 2017.
  19. Web site: Fellows. Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg. 7 March 2017. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130506031041/http://www.kvvs.se/ledamoter.html. 6 May 2013.
  20. Web site: IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering .
  21. Web site: Hasani . Ilire . Hoffmann . Robert . Academy of Europe: Wittung Stafshede Pernilla . Academy of Europe . 2024-07-04.
  22. Web site: Gustaf Dalén . Chalmersska Ingenjörsföreningen . sv . 2024-07-04.
  23. Web site: Ledamot . IVA . 2023-05-03 . sv . 2024-07-04.
  24. Web site: Biophysical Society Award to Chalmers Professor . Chalmers tekniska högskola . 2021-11-09 . 2024-07-04.
  25. Web site: Lindh . Susanne Nilsson . Chalmers Professor new Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry . Chalmers tekniska högskola . 2024-04-23 . 2024-07-04.
  26. Web site: ORCID . ORCID . 2024-07-08 . 2024-07-18.
  27. Web site: ID . Author(s) . Wittung-Stafshede, Pernilla . Scopus . 2024-07-18.

External links