Current main interests: Research on fruits, berries, herbs, medicinal plants, genetic variation, gene conservation, domestication of wild berry species, selection and breeding, organic cultivation, processing, quality assessment, product development, secondary metabolites, bio-functional compounds, antibacterial activity, preservation, phenolics, human health aspects. Quality assessments, NIR spectroscopy, sensory. Innovation of new products and methods.

Seed germination of trees and shrubs, agricultural crops and flowers, dormancy, seed quality, advanced sorting, storage, seed pretreatments. Selection and breeding of trees and shrubs, seed orchards, clonal stock, phenology, climate adaptation, propagation, disease resistance, ornamental quality, gene conservation. 

I am originally educated within nursery business and hold a master in Horticulture and a Ph.D. in seed biology. Am a senior scientist and have taken several courses in project management and leading of research teams and have broad experience in cooperative research projects, both nationally and internationally, including close cooperation with private companies.

Initial career research was on seed biology and seed technology for forestry, horticulture and agriculture. Specific focus was on:

• Understanding of and methods for quantifying and improving biological seed quality by for example seed vigour testing, non-destructive x-ray analysis, NIT scanning (near infrared transmission) of seeds combined with advanced 'physiological seed sorting'
• Understanding seed dormancy and germination inhibiting mechanisms in seeds and how it develops, efficient methods to break dormancy using for example controlled moisture content and production of seeds without dormancy that tolerate desiccation and storage.

Also carried out research on improvement of vegetative propagation, primarily woody winter cuttings and grafting of woody species. Another main research area is development and selection of trees and shrubs for gardens and landscape use - both clonally and on seed propagated basis. This includes a.o. investigations of genetic, phenotypic and disease resistance variation.

Have for more than 10 years studied aspects of medicinal plants (for example American ginseng and the anti-malarian species Artemisia annua) including cultivation, selection of superior genetics, identification of and variation in bioactive compounds and their health effects). Have finally a strong interest in the development of new innovative plant based products, productions and techniques that can create new possibilities for business, consumer and society. 

Take interest in teaching Innovation and entrepreneurship for students.