Meet our researchers

Here's an introduction to the members of our group. Feel free to contact us for further information about us and our activities.

Mats Larhed

Mats Larhed was appointed as the Vice-Rector for Medicine and Pharmacy at Uppsala University in 2020 and has delegated his responsibility as research group leader for Preparative medicinal chemistry.

Leadership and academic duties as vice-rector for medicin and pharmacy. In parallel, I am continuously engaged in the development of new palladium-catalyst Heck-type reactions and in our efforts to discover better pharmaceutical agents for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and cognitive dysfunctions.

Luke Odell

Luke Odell is deputy research group leader for Preparative Medicinal Chemistry.

Luke Odell was born in Tamworth, Australia in 1981. He graduated with an Honours BSc. in Forensic Science from the University of Newcastle, Australia in 2002. He completed his PhD studies at the same university under the guidance of Professor Adam McCluskey in 2006 working on the synthesis of enzyme inhibitors. In 2006, he took up a postdoctoral position with Professor Mats Larhed at Uppsala University. In 2016 he was appointed as a Senior Lecturer and was promoted to Full Professor in 2022.

Luke Odell's research includes molecular imaging, heterocyclic chemistry, PET chemistry and medicinal chemistry.

Ulrika Rosenström

Ulrika Rosenström received a Master of Science in Chemistry from Uppsala University in 1996 and was appointed as a scientist at Pharmacia and Upjohn. In 1999 she started her dissertation work in Medicinal Chemistry under Professor Anders Hallberg and in 2004 she became Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Pharmacy). In 2005 she was appointed a position as researcher and lecturer at the Division of Organic Pharmaceutical Chemistry and 2007 she became Chemistry director and scientist at Cardoz AB, a small biotech company in preclinical and clinical phase. In 2011 she returned to Uppsala University as a researcher and lecturer.

Ulrika Rosenström's research is focused on synthesis of peptides and pseudopeptides as novel PET-radiotracers, and design and synthesis of both drug-like and peptidomimetic enzyme inhibitors.

Bobo Skillinghaug

Bobo Skillinghaug received a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from Uppsala University in 2010 and worked as a laboratory engineer at Fresenius Kabi before starting his doctoral studies in 2011 at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Mats Larhed. The work focused on palladium catalysis, and in 2016 he defended his thesis and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Pharmacy). After two years as a researcher, he was employed as a lecturer at the Division of Preparative Medicinal Chemistry in 2018.

Bobo Skillinghaug's research focuses on the development of new synthesis methods - mainly Pd(II)-catalyzed addition reactions.

Jonas Rydfjord

Jonas Rydfjord obtained his PhD from Uppsala University in 2017 and teaches general and organic chemistry for the pharmacy and biomedicine programs.

Jonas Rydfjord's research includes Pd(II)-catalyzed addition reactions, Pd(0)-catalyzed carbonylation reactions, flow chemistry, and medicinal chemistry.

Ulf Bremberg

Jonas Eriksson

Jonas Eriksson works at the Uppsala University Hospital PET centre, but is affiliated with Preparative medicinal chemistry.

Jonas Eriksson was born in Sundsvall, Sweden in 1973. Studied chemistry at Uppsala University and completed his PhD in 2006 on the topic of 11C-chemistry and under the guidance of Professor Bengt Långström. He then relocated to The Netherlands and continued in the PET field with a postdoctoral position at VU University Amsterdam with Professor Bert Windhorst and was later appointed a permanent position at the PET research department at VUmc Amsterdam. In 2012 he relocated back to Sweden and the Uppsala University Hospital PET centre where he now works as senior researcher in radiopharmaceutical chemistry.

Jonas Eriksson's research includes radiopharmaceutical chemistry, preclinical and clinical PET tracer development.