Portrait
Jakob K. Kristjansson, Ph.D., is Head of the Biotechnology Department, Technological Institute of Iceland, and Docent (Associate Professor) of Microbiology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland. Dr. Kristjansson received his B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Iceland in 1976 and his Ph.D. degree in 1980 from the Department of Biochemistry, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. He was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Institute of Microbiology, Phillipps University, Marburg, Germany in 1981 to 1982. He became a research associate at the University of Iceland in 1982, a Lector in 1986 and a Docent in 1989. In 1985 he started his work on the biotechnology of thermophiles at the Technological Institute of Iceland and became Head of the Biotechnology Department in 1988. Dr. Kristjansson is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, the German Society for Microbiology, the Icelandic Academy of Sciences, the Icelandic Society for Microbiology and numerous other Icelandic societies. He has served on several committees for the Icelandic National Research Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Industrial Fund. He is now a member of the board of the Icelandic National Research Council. Dr. Kristjansson has received grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the American Scandinavian Foundation, the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He received “the Promotion Award” of the Icelandic National Research Council when awarded for the first time in 1987. He has held numerous research grants from the Icelandic Science Foundation, the Icelandic Research Council, the Research Fund of the University of Iceland, the Nordic Fund for Technology and Industrial Development and private industry. He has published more than 40 papers. His current research interests include the microbiology and biochemistry of thermophiles and thermostable enzymes.
