Berit Løkensgard Strand, PhD

Berit Løkensgard Strand, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Food Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. She led its Division for Biopolymers and Biomaterials from 2019 to 2025. Her research works out the chemistry of alginates, using enzymes called epimerases together with chemical modification to tailor sequence, degradability, and biological activity. Alginate forms hydrogels at physiological pH, with low toxicity and viscoelastic properties close to normal tissue. She engineers it as a protective barrier between transplanted cells and the host immune system. NTNU alginate capsules from this line of work entered clinical trials in 1994 and again in 2015 as a treatment for type 1 diabetes. Her encapsulation materials aim to shield transplanted insulin-producing islets from immune attack without systemic immunosuppression.

Affiliation

Professor of Biomaterials, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Location

Trondheim, Norway