Sophia Hober

Sophia Hober is Professor of Molecular Biotechnology at KTH, Stockholm, Sweden. She is part of the executive management team of the Human Protein Atlas and the Secretome project. Also, from 2011 to 2015 she was dean of faculty at KTH and thereby also part of the executive management team at KTH. She has published more than 180 scientific papers.

During her career, she has worked on developing affinity molecules for in vitro and in vivo diagnostics, where recent findings have led to a very effective method for finding HER2-expressing cancers via a newly developed radioactive affinity molecule. This has been confirmed in clinical studies, where small metastases not detectable with regular methods, could be visualized. The targeting module has also been developed for therapeutic applications. Further, prof. Hober has focused on developing molecules for highly specific purification of monoclonal antibodies. Among other applications, this effort has led to a purification method that is used globally by the majority of the pharmaceutical companies that produce and purify therapeutic antibodies (MabSelect SuRe, sold by Cytiva). During the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, prof. Hober, together with colleagues, rapidly developed a serological test for SARS-CoV-2 infection, which was utilized to first follow the spread and thereafter continuously recurrent infections among hospital workers at Danderyd hospital. This early and longitudinal information has built knowledge about the virus, its development as well as the protection supplied by the different vaccines and thereby led to several publications in high-impact journals. Currently, one of Hober’s research focuses is the development of a novel protein domain that displays calcium-dependent binding, ae mechanism that is utilized for protein purification, but also to increase the therapeutic effect of a specific binder. By both targeting the treatment and increase the rate of internalization into cancer cells the therapeutic effect for cancer treatment can be increase, leading to lower doses and less severe side effects.

For more detailed information about the research of the group, please visit  The Hober Lab

Academic merits:
2001   Docent, Dept. of Biotech. KTH, Stockholm
1996   PhD, Biochemistry, Dept. of Biotechnology, KTH, Stockholm.
1988   M.Sc., (Civ.Ing.) Chemical Engineering/Biotechnology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

Employments:
2007 –             Professor of Molecular Biotechnology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
2011 –2015    Dean of Faculty (80%), KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
2007 – 2009    Vice Dean, School of Biotechnology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
2003 – 2009    Site‑director HPA, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
2005 – 2006    Associate Prof. (Universitetslektor), School of Biotechnology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
1997 – 2000    Assistant Prof. (Forskarassistent), Dept. of Biotechnology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
1996 – 2005    Senior Scientist, Dept. of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
1989 – 1996    Doctoral Fellowship, Dept. of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, KTH, but located at Pharmacia, Stockholm, Sweden