Jens B Nielsen

Jens B Nielsen is a Professor of Quantitative Systems Biology at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, where he leads a research group of over 60 people. He previously served as full Professor and founded the Center for Microbial Biotechnology at Danish Technical University (DTU), and as Chief Science Officer of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (2013-2018).

• Current CEO of BioInnovation Institute (Denmark) since 2019
• Member of National Academy of Engineering (USA), National Academy of Science (USA), and multiple European academies

His research spans systems biology, metabolic engineering, and industrial biotechnology, with over 700 publications and 50 patents. Key innovations include CRISPR-based yeast engineering, enzyme-constrained metabolic models, and microbiome-host interaction frameworks. He has founded several biotech companies and supervised 100+ PhD students.

Recent publications highlight work on:

• Antimicrobial resistance dynamics in microbiomes
• CRISPRi/a for yeast tolerance mechanisms
• Metabolism-driven enzyme evolution over millennia
• Precision modeling of gut microbiota

Scientific Awards:

• Nature Mentor Award for academic leadership
• ENI Award for energy innovation
• Novozymes Prize for biotech impact
• Gold Medal from Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences

He has received continuous recognition as a Highly Cited Researcher (2015-2018) and serves on editorial boards of leading journals like Nature Communications and Trends in Biotechnology.