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Mikael Kubista
Czech-born Swedish chemist and entrepreneur From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mikael Kubista (born 13 August 1961) is a Czech-born Swedish chemist and entrepreneur who works in the field of molecular diagnostics. Since 2007 he is serving as Head of the Laboratory of Gene Expression at the Biotechnology Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences.[1]
Kubista has contributed to the field of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), with his work recognized as part of the early research in this area.[2]
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Early life
Kubista was born to his medical doctor father in the former Czechoslovakia in 1961.[3] His father received a scholarship and relocated to Sweden. At the age of 7 in 1968, Kubista went to Sweden to visit his father. However, on that very day, Russia invaded Czechoslovakia in the so called Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia,[4] and as a result, the family decided to stay making Sweden their new home.
1984 and 1986 Kubista won the Swedish junior championships in bridge together with Nils Åhlen and Stefan Rebner, and with Stefan Andreasson and Niklas Karlsson, respectively.[5]
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Education
He completed his undergraduate studies at University of Gothenburg, earning a B.Sc. degree in chemistry in 1984.[6] He then pursued a Licentiate in Physical Chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, which he completed in 1986. Kubista obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from Chalmers University of Technology.[7] Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research at institutions such as La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, and Yale University in New Haven, US.[8] Additionally, he has held visiting professor positions at various universities, including the University of Maryland in College Park, US, in June 2000, and the University of A Coruña in Spain, during September–November 2003 and July 2006 to June 2007.[3]
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Career
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Academic career[9]
Kubista began his academic career in 1991 as an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology.[10] From 1993 to 1997, he was an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the same institution. Following this, he held the position of professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Chalmers University of Technology from 1997 to 2006.[10]
In 2019 Kubista is interviewed for the podcast Spännande Möten.[11]
Entrepreneurial activities
In 1998 Kubista founded LightUp Technologies AB after his research finding of LightUp probes,[12] a company that develops real-time PCR tests for human infectious diseases.[13][14] In 2001, Kubista founded TATAA Biocenter.[13][15][14] TATAA Biocenter accepted financing from Care Equity in 2021.[15][16][17][18][19]
Kubista's research led to the establishments of MultiD Analyses AB, which develops GenEx software for gene expression data analysis. In 2020, Kubista co-founded SimSen Diagnostics a company focused on developing technology for liquid biopsy analyses.[8][20][21]
In 2024, Kubista co-founded Runa Bio with professors Erik Lekholm and Anders Ståhlberg around a new biomarker for melanoma.[22][23]
TATAA Biocenter
In 2021, Care Equity, controlled by investor Peter Batesko, invested in TATAA Biocenter.[24][15] To facilitate the investment, a new holding company, Bioholdings LP, was established to acquire TATAA. During restructuring connected to TATAA’s COVID-19 testing business, Kubista and his co-founders followed lawyers' instructions and carried out an upstream merger between two holding entities. This violated a clause in the agreement that prohibited share transfers without written consent. Peter Batesko, General Partner of Care Equity, refused to register the founders' ownership. In June 2023 Batesko dismissed Kubista as CEO and forfeited the founders' shares without compensation.[25][26] Peter Batesko and companies he controls then sued Kubista, the TATAA founders and their lawyer in what is claimed to be aggressive SLAPP.[27] As of October 2025, legal proceedings related to the merger dispute remain ongoing in the Swedish courts.[28]
Precision BioAnalytics
In 2025 Kubista together with Jens Björkman, Robert Sjöback and Fredrik Adlercreutz founded Precision BioAnalytics,[29][30][31] around a new preanalytical procedure that increases sensitivity and improves precision of the preanalytical process in molecular analysis,[32] with seed financing from the Swedish infra-structure CCRM-Nordic.[33]
Advisory roles and memberships
Kubista holds several positions and advisory roles within the scientific and biotechnology communities including: Roche, Thermo Fisher Scientific,[34] Qiagen,[35] Bio-Rad, and RealSeq Biosciences He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of Genetic Engineering News.[36]
Kubista is an expert advisor for the European Commission Research Directorate General. Since 1999, Kubista serves as an advisor to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), providing guidance and assistance to countries such as: Libya, Egypt, Iran, Grenada, and Ghana.[37]
Kubista is board member of Level Bio, listed on the Nordic Growth market.
Kubista is board member of EMPE Diagnostics.
Kubista is board member of Nygen Analytics.
Kubista is board member of Precision BioAnalytics.
Kubista is board member of MultiD Analysis.
Selected findings and publications
- Studied and identified chromophores and a variety of dyes commonly used as biomolecule labels like: tryptophan, DAPI, fluorescein,[38] thiazole orange, and BEBO.[12]
- Applying Widlund experiment, identified specific nucleosome positioning sequences.[13]
- Uncovered mechanism of oncogene activation involving the formation of internal G-quadruplexes.[39]
- Designed a probe that exhibit luminescence upon binding to specific nucleic acids.[40]
- Techniques for gene expression at the level of individual cells and subcellular compartments.[41]
- The occurrence of horizontal transfer of mitochondria within living organisms.[42]
- Potential new treatment of stroke[43]
- Discovered the Regeneration Initiating Cells (RICs) [44]
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References
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