Thomas Oftedal

Thomas Oftedal is a Researcher at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), affiliated with the Laboratory for Microbial Gene Technology (LMG) under the supervision of Morten Kjos. He is based in the Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science within the Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science. His work bridges experimental and computational microbiology, focusing on novel antimicrobial strategies.

Research Interests:

• Molecular mechanisms of bacteriocins, including saposin-like and lantibiotics
• Antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus
• Bacterial stress response systems
• Rational design of antimicrobial peptides using AlphaFold, AlphaPulldown, and RFdiffusion
• Genome-assisted discovery and characterization of bacteriocins
• Flow cytometry-based detection of pathogens using bacteriocin probes

The recent publications reflect a strong trend in translational microbiology, combining computational protein design with experimental validation to develop new antimicrobials and detection tools. His work targets WHO priority pathogens and explores antibiotic-free therapies, aligning with global health needs.

Scientific Contributions:

• Discovery of novel bacteriocins: romsacin, ubericin K, and two-peptide lantibiotics
• Development of hybrid approaches for designing saposin-like bacteriocins
• Innovative use of bacteriocins for pathogen detection (e.g., EntK1 for VRE)
• Elucidation of RseP protease role in bacteriocin sensitivity

Advising and Teaching: Thomas Oftedal has supervised over a dozen master’s students as main or co-supervisor. He has been actively involved in teaching, serving as teaching assistant and lecturer in key courses such as Molecular Biology (BIO210), Laboratory Exercises in Molecular Biology (BIO211), Food Microbiology (MVI220), and Biochemistry (KJB200). He has also contributed to online course development and Canvas material organization.

Laboratory and Collaborative Work: He conducts research at the Laboratory for Microbial Gene Technology (LMG), collaborating extensively with researchers such as Morten Kjos, Dzung B. Diep, and others. His work integrates wet-lab techniques with bioinformatics and molecular modeling, forming a multidisciplinary research profile.