Dr. Peter E. Nielsen was born in Copenhagen in 1951, and has been affiliated with University of Copenhagen since 1980, where he became full professor in 1995. He is one of the inventors of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) (1991), and has further studied and developed this DNA mimic during the last 20 years in relation to chemistry, molecular biology and drug discovery. Presently his research is centred around delivery and bioavailability of PNA and other potential gene therapeutic drugs with a strong focus on novel antimicrobial agents.

Peter Nielsen is the co-author of more than 390 scientific papers, reviews and book chapters (with over 14000 citations) as well as over 20 patents and patent applications, and he serves on the advisory board on 5 scientific journals and is Editor-in-Chief on a new journal, “Artificial DNA”. He has a Masters degree in biochemistry from 1976, received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1980 from University of Copenhagen and an honorary doctoral degree (Dr.Sc.) in 1990. He is the co-founder of two Biotech companies in Denmark. He is a member of EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) since 1996 and the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV) (since 2003) and he has received several national and international scientific prizes including the NovoNordic Foundation, the Lundbeck Foundation and the Institute Curie Jeanne Loubaresse prize.


Positions in Brief

1976-1977: Post doc at University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.
1977-1983: University fellowship University of Copenhagen.
1983-1985: "Niels Bohr" fellowship. 1985-1990: "NOVO Foundation, Hallas‑Møller" fellowship.
1990-1991: "Alfred Benzon Senior Fellowship". 1991-1995:  Associate professor.
1995-: Full Professor, University of Copenhagen.
1991-1994: Centerleader of "Research Center for Medical Biotechnology".
1995-1999 Head of "Center for Biomolecular Recognition".
1999-2003: Vice President, Pantheco A/S.