Rein Aasland

Rein Aasland is a Professor at the Department of Biosciences within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. His research focuses on gene regulation, particularly how histone modifications and chromatin structure influence gene expression. He has held roles including Head of Department at both the University of Bergen and University of Oslo, and currently serves as President of the Norwegian Bioscience Society and a Norwegian delegate to the EMBL Council.

Education: Cand. scient. (Biochemistry, University of Bergen, 1984); Dr. scient. (Molecular Biology, University of Bergen, 1991).

Research Interests: Aasland’s work explores epigenetic mechanisms like histone acetylation/methylation and their roles in cellular memory. His lab identifies proteins recognizing histone modifications such as H3K27ac, combining biochemical, bioinformatics, and molecular approaches. Key themes include chromatin remodeling complexes, enhancer activity, and transcriptional regulation.

Professional Roles: Past leadership roles include Vice Dean for Education (University of Bergen) and Board memberships in national/international programs like HFSP and ELIXIR. Current roles include Norwegian delegate to the EMBL Council.

Awards & Recognition: No explicit prizes listed, but his extensive administrative and advisory roles highlight his influence in academic governance.

Labs/Teams: Leads a research group focused on histone recognition modules and epigenetic signaling at the University of Oslo.