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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 a Professor of Chemistry and Head of the Department of Gene Expression Profiling at the Biotechnology Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences in the Czech Republic.
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.[1]
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Early life
Kubista was born to his medical doctor father in the former Czechoslovakia in 1961.[2] 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,[3] and as a result, the family decided to stay making Sweden their new home.
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Education
He completed his undergraduate studies at University of Gothenburg, earning a B.Sc. degree in chemistry in 1984.[4] 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.[5] Kubista obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from Chalmers University of Technology.[6] 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.[7][8][dubious – discuss] 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.[citation needed]
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Career
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Academic career
Kubista began his academic career in 1991 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology.[9] From 1993 to 1997, he served as 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.[9][10]
Entrepreneurial activities
In 1998 Kubista founded LightUp Technologies AB after his research finding of lightUp probes,[11] a company that develops real-time PCR tests for human infectious diseases.[12][13] In 2001, Kubista's founded TATAA Biocenter.[12][14][13] 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.[7][8][20][21]
In 2024, he co-founded HotSpot Diagnostics with professors Erik Lekholm and Anders Ståhlberg around a new cancer biomarker and the Uniprobe.[22][23]
TATAA Biocenter
In 2021 Kubista and his co-founders of TATAA Biocenter, sought external investment to expand the company's capabilities. This led to a partnership with the American investment firm Care Equity, aiming to position TATAA as a leading provider of GLP/GCP-regulated molecular services for the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in cell and gene therapies.[26]
To facilitate this investment, a new holding company, Bioholdings LP, was established by Care Equity to acquire TATAA. Kubista and other original shareholders received shares in Bioholdings LP through their holding company. However, due to complexities in restructuring TATAA's COVID-19 testing business, Kubista and his partners, following legal advice, executed an upstream merger between their holding company and a newly formed entity. This merger inadvertently violated a clause in the agreement with Care Equity that prohibited share transfers without written consent. Unaware of this restriction, Kubista proceeded with the merger, leading Care Equity to dismiss him as CEO of TATAA in June 2023.[27]
Subsequently, Kubista and his co-founders lost their ownership stakes in TATAA, prompting them to sue their legal advisors for negligent counsel in the Gothenburg District Court.[28]
After Care Equity forfeited the founders’ shares, General Partner Peter Batesko himself and through companies he controls, sued Kubista, the founders’ holding company and their lawyer, in several jurisdictions and threatened their coworkers and advisors.[29] The founders’ lawyer Per Karlsson claims this is SLAPP to hinder the founders from claiming back what has been taken from them. The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court in Sweden.[30]
Precision BioAnalytics
Kubista and the expert team behind Tataa Biocenter are embarking on a new venture, starting Precision BioAnalytics,[31] with seed financing from the Swedish infra-structure CCRM-Nordic.[32]
Advisory roles and memberships
Kubista holds several positions and advisory roles within the scientific and biotechnology communities including: Roche, ThermoFisher, Qiagen, Bio-Rad, and RealSeq Biosciences. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of Genetic Engineering News.[33][34]
Kubista has also been involved in the establishment of modern molecular diagnostics in developing countries. Since 1999, he has served as an advisor to UNESCO, providing guidance and assistance to countries such as: Libya, Egypt, Iran, Grenada, and Ghana.[8]
Kubista is an expert advisor for the European Commission Research Directorate General. Kubista advises the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and is part of the scientific advisory board for the International Biotechnology Research in Tripoli, Libya, under UNESCO.[35][10][36]
Selected findings and publications
- Studied and identified chromophores and a variety of dyes commonly used as biomolecule labels like: tryptophan, DAPI, fluorescein,[37] thiazole orange, and BEBO.[38][11]
- Applying Widlund experiment, identified specific nucleosome positioning sequences.[12]
- Uncovered mechanism of oncogene activation involving the formation of internal G-quadruplexes.[39][8][40]
- Designed a probe that exhibit luminescence upon binding to specific nucleic acids.[41][42]
- Techniques for gene expression at the level of individual cells and subcellular compartments.[43]
- The occurrence of horizontal transfer of mitochondria within living organisms.[40][44]
- Potential new treatment of stroke[45]
- Discovered the Regeneration Initiating Cells (RICs) [46]
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References
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