Fungal&EnzymHunterSara

Science and fantasy go hand in hand! I grew up almost as far north in Sweden as you can get. After completing my PhD in fungal phylogenetics at Umeå University in 1996, I spent three years working in mycology laboratories in Oslo, Portsmouth, and Vancouver. During that time, I carried out further phylogenetic studies as well as electron microscopy studies of my favorite fungus, Neolecta, and other fascinating fungi. In 2000, I moved to Denmark and have since worked as a fungal and enzyme hunter at Novonesis A/S, with the goal of developing biosolutions that can help make a more sustainable world. Alongside this work, I have had a hobby of writing a children’s adventure story which recently turned into a book (in Danish only, sorry). I call it a ‘BioFantasy’, since biology (and not least fungi) has been my main source of inspiration. Of course, biology and science have inspired many fantasy and science fiction writers. But the relationship goes both ways and we should not underestimate the importance of fantasy and imagination and how it helps us to explore science more deeply, develop new hypotheses, and generate new ideas to test.