Mikael Kubista - Biography#

Dr Kubista has been interested in life sciences his entire life. After his bachelor degree at Gothenburg University Kubista joined the team at Astra Hässle (today part of AstraZeneca) studying the K+/H+-ATPase inhibitor omeprazole, which became the then most sold pharmaceutical drug under the trade names of Losec (Prilosec in US) and Nexium used to treat ulcer. He did his Ph.D. in chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg and postdocs at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, and Yale University, New Haven, USA. Returning to Gothenburg in 1991 Kubista started his own research group studying DNA-ligand interactions and elucidated some critical details about the RecA catalyzed strand exchange process, which led to the establishment of the current model of DNA strand exchange in homologous recombination. His group also discovered a novel mechanism of transcriptional activation of oncogenes, which led to the development of a new class of anticancer drugs that target quadruplex DNA structures. They developed methods for multidimensional data analysis based on which MultiD Analyses AB was founded, and they invented the light-up probes for nucleic acid detection in homogeneous solution, which led to the foundation of LightUp Technologies AB as Europe´s first company focusing on quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) based diagnostics.

In 2001 Kubista set up the TATAA Biocenter as center of excellence in qPCR and gene expression analysis with locations in Gothenburg, Sweden and Prague, Czech Republic. TATAA Biocenter is the largest provider of qPCR training globally, and Europe´s largest provider of qPCR services. It was the first laboratory in Europe to obtain flexible ISO 17025 accreditation. In 2013 TATAA was presented the Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Leadership as Best-in-Class Services for Analyzing Genetic Material and in 2019 TATAA was named “Best Nucleic Acid Analysis Service provider – Europe” by Global Health & Pharma. In 2014 TATAA introduced non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in Sweden and separated its consumer diagnostic business into the company Life Genomics AB and in 2018 Kubista co-founded the healthcare provider Gendoktorn focusing on pre-emptive care based on genetic testing. In 2019 Kubista also co-founded the sports genetic company Life Test.

Kubista also co-authored the MIQE guidelines for RT-qPCR analysis, which is the most cited paper in molecular diagnostics, and he is member of the CEN/ISO working group developing guidelines for the pre-analytical process in diagnostics. Most recently the team at TATAA invented Two-tailed PCR, which is arguably one of the most sensitive and specific methods for nucleic acid analysis. The Two-Tailed PCR can be combined with the technology SimSen Seq and a joint company with the inventors of SimSen Seq and Göteborg University holding will be set up in 2020 to exploit the technology for cancer diagnostics. Kubista is advisor to Unesco since 2000 supporting the establishment of modern molecular diagnostics in developing countries. Since 2007 Kubista also heads the Department of Gene Expression at the institute of Biotechnology, BIOCEV, Czech Academy of Sciences.