It was not surprising that Stefan was asked to take on the role of Deputy Head of Department; he has been involved in undergraduate education for many years and has shown a keen interest in pedagogical issues. He has also been Director of Studies at MBW for a number of years and leads the department's undergraduate programme group.

What does the role of Deputy Head of Department entail? ‘Yes, the main task is of course to replace the head of department when he is unable to attend. But Stefan is keen to get involved in strategic issues such as BIG's role within the section and he will certainly be seen at many meetings in the future. - ‘It will be fun to do something new,’ says Stefan.

Stefan Åström. Photo: Margareta Ohné.

Molecular geneticist by chance

According to Stefan, becoming a biologist was a coincidence. When he was about to start studying at the University of Umeå, he was admitted to several programmes and chose to study biology with a microbiological focus, without knowing much about what that meant. But over time he became so interested in molecular genetics that he continued with postgraduate studies - it's so much fun to select and screen mutants! In 1994, he defended his thesis on the initiator tRNA of the baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 

Since then, Stefan has devoted himself to molecular genetic problems using different yeast species as experimental organisms. After his doctoral thesis, he first did a postdoc in California, but then returned to Umeå. In 2002, he moved to Stockholm University and a research position at the then Wenner-Grens Institute. He is now a professor at MBW and expects to remain here for the rest of his working life.

Yeast cells. Photo: Britannica Image Quest.

Many years as a yeast researcher

The most enjoyable part of research, says Stefan, is the collaboration with doctoral students and postdocs, and of course getting great results. He is particularly pleased to have investigated the mechanisms behind the switching of mating types in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. Mating types can be seen as a counterpart to sex because cells of different mating types can undergo a type of mating, leading to meiosis and the formation of spores. The process is induced by starvation and the spores are resistant to heat and drought, so it is all about a biologically important survival mechanism. 

Stefan's current research is about something completely different, namely how cells maintain genome stability, and the model organism is still yeast. Specifically, he and his colleagues are studying telomeres, the ends of chromosomes. These dynamic regions of DNA are shortened when cells divide but can be lengthened by the enzyme telomerase. This is a very interesting area of research in its own right, but it also has links to such ‘hot’ areas as stem cells, cancer and ageing. It is clear that students will be interested! However, Stefan emphasises that ageing is due to much more than shortened telomeres. 

The labs are important!

So what does a really good university education look like? It should be student-centred, says Stefan, so that students learn as much as possible. It is also important to mix different teaching methods. ‘It's no wonder,’ he continues, ’all pedagogical research shows that students learn best by being active. Lectures are not very effective but they are still necessary to cover the material. In any case, what students learn most from are labs and tutorials where they have to be active themselves.

One problem that has affected MBW in recent years is that there has been a shortage of assistants for lab teaching. The assistants are doctoral students, and at MBW all doctoral students have 20% assistant teaching in their position. But the PhD students have become much more expensive. It's good that they get paid more, but it has forced the department to reduce the number of doctoral students and the students' important laboratory time has thus been reduced. - ‘It's not exactly a crisis,’ says Stefan, ‘but the development is worrying.

Committed director of studies

As director of studies, Stefan cannot control how his teaching colleagues organise their courses; course leaders have complete freedom to do as they see fit. However, a committed director of studies can of course inspire his colleagues.

Inspiration is something that teachers can also get through the Biological Section's Pedagogical Council. Stefan has been MBW's representative there since the council was formed in 2020 and he thinks it has had good activities with various seminars and retreats. But now a renewal of the council is needed and Stefan calls for younger forces and new ideas!

But life is not just work. Maybe it used to be, says Stefan, but not anymore. In his spare time, he spends most of his time with his family. He also likes to go for a run to keep fit and he reads a lot of fiction.