Karsten Kristiansen is Professor of Molecular Biology and Head of the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen. After graduation from the University of Copenhagen, he held postdoctoral positions at the Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik in Berlin and at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Fondation Edmond de Rothschild, in Paris, before taking up a position as associate professor at the Department of Molecular Biology, Odense University, where he became full professor and Head of Department. He was recruited to his current position at the University of Copenhagen in 2008. He serves as reviewer for a large number of journals and international funding agencies.