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Meet Torbjörn Gräslund, new GA at CBH

Torbjörn Gräslund
Torbjörn Gräslund, new Director of First and Second Cycle Education (GA) at KTH. Photo: Jon Lindhe, KTH
Published Jan 17, 2024

Torbjörn Gräslund is a professor of medical protein technology, and his research focuses on designing proteins for medical applications. As of 1 January, this year, he is also the new Director of First and Second Cycle Education (GA) at the CBH School.

“What we do at KTH is important for society; we provide education that is exceptionally good. Just being part of leading education into the future is going to be incredibly enjoyable and feels significant.”

Torbjörn Gräslund

Education: Degree programme in Chemistry, followed by doctoral studies at KTH and a postdoc in California.

Family: Girlfriend and three Children, only the youngest living at home.

Lives in: A house in Hägersten.

Likes to do when not working: Plays electrical guitar – sometimes for an audience. Likes to play computer games

Torbjörn Gräslund started studying chemistry at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 1990 and after his Master of Science degree continued with doctoral studies in protein design. After a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California – where he was involved in designing a precursor to the CRISPR/Cas9 gene scissors, which earned Emanuelle Charpentier the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year – he returned to KTH. Since 2017, he has been a professor at KTH, and as of January this year, he is the new Director of First and Second Cycle Education at the CBH School.

Research about proteins that can target cancer tumours

In his research group, he works on designing proteins for medical applications. This may involve proteins that can target cancer tumours, for example. By attaching chemotherapy drugs to the proteins, they can be delivered directly to the cancer tumours without harming other organs.

“The reason I have stayed at KTH for so long is because it is a very good employer. It is a stimulating environment to work in, in so many ways. I have a lot of good colleagues and it is always fun to discuss research and education with them,” says Torbjörn Gräslund.

Committed to education

Alongside his research, Torbjörn Gräslund has been teaching since 2006. As early as 2007, he started getting involved in driving education forward, and eventually became deputy Director of First and Second Cycle Education. When asked why he wanted to become the new Director of First and Second Cycle Education, the answer comes quickly and naturally.

“I have taught at least one course a year since 2006. KTH provides top quality education compared to many other universities and we are a leading technical university in Sweden and the Nordic countries. The engineers who graduate from KTH contribute to building our prosperity. Quite simply, we make an important contribution to society. To be involved in designing this as one of five GAs at KTH is a very important task. I would say it is both important and fun, and I really look forward to leading this educational organisation.”

Visions and Future education

In terms of visions for the future, he mentions, among other things, the development project Future Education.

“On the one hand, we want to maintain and provide roughly the same programmes that we provide today. On the other hand, it is important to focus on developing our programmes and courses going forward, so that we continue to be relevant. We must develop, make sure we are at the forefront and keep up with our time. This is where Future Education has an important role to play. We may grind our teeth because we have more to do, but the fact is that the projects we launched in 2023 have been very successful. It’s time well spent.”

“Moreover, it's advantageous to be able to offer remote education. This allows us to educate people across the whole of Sweden and involve teachers from around the world. However, we must also – clichéd as it may sound – ensure that we have a vibrant campus where students feel they want to be."

He mentions that the CBH school does a lot to broaden recruitment through the programmes it offers.

At CBH, we are broadening the education to include groups that historically haven’t studied at KTH – women and people with an immigrant background. On the biology and chemistry programmes, we now have more female students than male, and on our programmes in Flemingsberg we have succeeded in recruiting many students with an immigrant background. The Technical preparatory year is extremely important to be able to admit those who did not study technology or science in high school to engineering programs.

“What we do at KTH is important for society; we provide education that is exceptionally good. Just being part of leading education into the future is going to be incredibly enjoyable and feels significant,” says Torbjörn Gräslund

Text: Åsa Karsberg

Read more about Future Education and the CBH-projects

What does a Director of First and Second Cycle Education (GA) do?

The Director of First and Second Cycle Education is responsible for coordinating the work of maintaining and enhancing the quality of education at the qualifying, undergraduate, and advanced levels at the school, as well as for the school's lifelong learning education. Together with the Faculty Board, the Director of First and Second Cycle Education is also responsible for ensuring that the school's educational programmes and course offerings are developed in line with KTH's vision and overall goals, and in accordance with the school's operational plan. The development of educational programmes should take place in agreement with KTH's other schools.