Dr. Jesper Svejstrup

Affiliation

Professor and deputy chairman at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Denmark
Director of the Center of Gene Expression, University of Copenhagen

Committee membership

Standing Committee on Science

Biography

Jesper Svejstrup is a biochemist and cell biologist whose research is focused on gene expression and the regulation of gene traffic, as well as its coordination with DNA replication and repair. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Aarhus University, Denmark, in 1993, specializing in DNA topology, and later joined Professor Roger Kornberg at Stanford University, California, as a postdoctoral fellow, where he began his work on transcription and RNA polymerase II regulation. Svejstrup established his independent research group at Cancer Research UK’s Clare Hall Laboratories in London, England, in 1996. In 2015, he joined the Francis Crick Institute, also holding honorary professorships at UCL, Imperial College London, and Aarhus University. After his tenure at the Crick Institute (2015–2020), he became professor and deputy chairman at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Denmark, and from 2023 also Director of the Center of Gene Expression. His laboratory employs a multidisciplinary approach, combining biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, and ‘omics’ techniques. He is an elected member of EMBO, the Royal Society, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2024, he received the Carlsberg Foundation’s Research Prize. Svejstrup has served on several scientific boards, including as vice-president for Life Sciences at the European Research Council (ERC).

Date modified:

2026-02-11