CV - BIRGER LINDBERG MØLLER

Researcher unique identifiers: ORCID: 0000-0002-3252-3119; Research ID: H-2657-2014
Date of birth: November 17th, 1946; Nationality: Danish; URL for web site: https://synbio.ku.dk/blm
H-index: 60; Total number of citations: >10,800; Web of Science: 364 registered publications

EDUCATION:
M.Sc. 1972; Ph.D. 1975; D.Sc. 1984 (University of Copenhagen); D.Sc.h.c.

CURRENT POSITIONS
• 2015- Distinguished Professor and Consultant, Carlsberg Laboratory, 5% employment
• 1990-  Professor, Plant Biochemistry Labora¬tory, Department of Plant Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 100% employment

PREVIOUS POSITIONS
• 2014-2015:  Head of the Carlsberg Laboratory, contract to reorganize the lab, 20% employment
• 2010-2013:   Section Director of “Plant Pathway Discovery” in the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Bio-Sustainability, 20% employment, Technical University of Denmark

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH CENTERS
• 2008-2019:  Dir. of VILLUM Research Centre for Plant Plasticity and Pro-Active Plants –  8 M€ 
• 2013-2018:   Dir. of Center for Synthetic Biology “bioSYNergy”, UCPH Excellence Programme    for Interdisciplinary Research –  3.5 M€
• 2010-2014: Dir. of UNIK Synthetic Biology, one of four Centres of Excellence established in Denmark by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (https://www.synbio.ku.dk/) – 16 M€
• 1998-2008:  Dir of Centre of Molecular Plant Physiology (PlaCe), Center of Excellence in plant biology in Denmark supported by the Danish National Research Foundation – 13 M€

MAJOR RESEARCH GRANTS, last 10 years
In the last ten years I have raised > 35 M€ in research grants
• 2018-2020:  VILLUM Experiment - 0.26 M€
• 2016-2020: Novo Nordisk Foundation Synergy Grant: Desert-loving therapeutics – 2 M€
• 2016-2019: Lundbeck Foundation: Brewing diterpenoids – 1.4 M€ 
• 2016-2018: ERC Proof of Concept Grant – 0.14 M€
• 2015-2017: Innovation Fund Denmark, Innobooster: SUNWORKS – 0.8 M€
• 2013-2019: ERC Advanced Grant: Lightdriven P450s – 2.5 M€
• 2013-2018: UCPH Excellence Progr. for Interdisciplinary Research: bioSYNergy – 3.5 M€
• 2010-2014: UNIK Synthetic Biology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation – 16 M€
• 2008-2019: VILLUM Centers for Pro-active Plants and Plant Plasticity – 8 M€
 
RESEARCH AWARDS
• 2014: Awarded Order of the Dannebrog. Knight 1st Class
• 2013: Awarded title of Honorary Professor at University of Queensland
• 2009: Appointed Honorary Doctor at the University of Umeå, Sweden
• 2007: Villum Kann Rasmussen Research Prize (350.000 €). The largest Danish research award
• 1995: Promoted by the Queen of Denmark as Knight of the Dannebrog

SUPERVISION, MENTORING AND TEACHING
• Main advisor of 55 PhD-students (5 ongoing)
• Mentor for a similar number of postdoctoral fellows and BSc and MSc students.
• Mentor for Bio-Hackerspaces in Denmark and US.
• Teaching courses e.g. Frontiers in Plant Science, Beer and Wine Course, and Synthetic Biology at University of Copenhagen, BioBusiness Summer School at Copenhagen Business School.

INVITED LECTURES AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES 2018
Recent invited lectures at international meetings including the Nature.com conference: Synthetic Biology- Resource Allocation in Natural and Unnatural Systems, October 15-17, 2018, Shanghai, China; 7th International Yeast 2.0 and Synthetic Genomes Conference, November 26-28, Sydney, Australia; “Revolutionizing agriculture with synthetic biology” Banbury Center, Science think tank, December 2nd-5th, 2018, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, United States; “International Conference on Cytochrome P450”, ICCP450, June 23-27, 2019, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (opening lecture)

COMMUNICATION AND ART-SCIENCE-SOCIETY COLLABORATIONS
I have given numerous interviews to newspapers, radio and digital media (https://synbio.ku.dk/in-the-media/) and continuously present our research at major events, e.g.: 
• TEDx talk: Plant Power: The Ultimate Way to Go Green – on synthetic biology and citizen science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oiWJOTydWA
• World Economic Forum: The Future of Energy from Plants (ERC-invited)
https://synbio.ku.dk/news/davos_2015/
• American Society of Cell Biology: Center for Synthetic Biology – Plant Pathway Discovery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1xxdRp-lEc&feature=youtu.be also featuring our young researchers
I enjoy many contacts to artists, designers and architects wrt our different research topics e.g.
• Talk at the “Light Space: textile illumination” symposium on September 14th, 2018 in Copenhagen on integrating light technologies in architectural design practices to support resilient ways of living.
• Co-org. and keynote at Society of Literature, Science and Arts GREEN 2018, interdisciplinary art-science-humanities-policies conference: https://green-slsa2018.ku.dk/
• Documentary movies: “On the edge of a new paradigm” by Alfred Birkegaard, “Good Things Await” (2014) and “When you look away” (2017) by Phie Ambo.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS
Biochemistry will always be my passion and my drive, especially focused on the biochemical processes enabling plants to counteract biotic and abiotic environmental challenges. Cyanogenic glucosides and diterpenoids have been our experimental model systems. Major hallmarks of our research within plant pathway discovery has been the elucidation of the biosynthetic pathways for high-value phytochemicals such as diterpenoids, vanillin, carmine and steviosides – and the basic science behind their biosynthesis and metabolism (cytochromes P450-enzymes, glycosyltransferases, metabolon formation, self-assembly etc) and development of light driven production systems.

ORGANISATION OF INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS in 2018
• GREEN: 12th European Society for Literature, Science and Arts Conference, June 13-16th, 2018, Copenhagen. Steering Committee member, Sponsor, Plenary lecture
• 14th International Symposium on Cytochrome P450 Biodiversity and Biotechnology, July 15-19th, 2018, York. Steering Committee member, Symposium lecture

REVIEWING ACTIVITIES
Current member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of:
• 2018- SynBioactive, a research initiative between Univ. Queensland and Technische Univ. Münich
• 2018-  Octarine Bio, a start-up spin-out based on the ERC ADG and ERC Proof of Concept    grants and seeking financing from the Novo Nordisk Bio-Innovation Institute, Copenhagen
• 2018- River Stone Denmark, a start-up biotech company, 17 employees, Copenhagen
• 2013-  Evolva Biotech, a biotech company with >70 employees, Basel, Switzerland
• 2008- Max-Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany

Other selected roles:
• 2015- UK Synbio Roadmap reviewer and advisor of new synbio centers across UK (300M£)
• 2011-2014 Danish Council for Research Policy, Minister-appointed member.
• 2007- Intern. Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (US), elected member
• 2007-2009 Federation Fellowships Selection Committee (chair) at the Australian Research
 Council responsible for awarding annual grants totaling 25 M€
• 1992- Danish Board of Appeal for Patents, member of