Prof. Dr. Jan Raa

Member

Honoray Doctor at University of Tromsø. General director of research at the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) and Norwegian Institute of Food Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (NOFIMA). Founder and Chairman at EderaGen.

Biography

Jan Raa is a biochemist/microbiologist by education (cand.real) and Dr. sc. (1968) in organic chemistry related to disease resistance mechanisms in plants. He has been associate professor in cell biology at the University of Bergen (1968-72), professor in physiological microbiology (1972-87) and professor II in marine biochemistry (1994-98) at the University of Tromsø, where he also has served as Vice Chancellor (1974-76). Jan Raa has been General Director of Research (1989-94) at Norwegian Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture and in 1988 he was Head of Institute of Nutrition in Bergen.

Jan Raa is founder of R&D-based technological companies, among these the biopharmaceutical companies Biotec Pharmaconon ASA and ArcticZymes Technologies ASA (https://arcticzymes.com), listed on Oslo Stock Market. For many years he was the also the Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of these companies. During the last 10-15 years he has worked mainly with gut microbiome ecology, with the objective to develop product candidates that may counteract health problems related to microbial and immunological dysbiosis in the digestive tract of humans, farm animals and aquatic organisms.

Jan Raa has been awarded Commander of St.Olav Order for his innovations within the bio-marine sector of Norway and he is Honoray Doctor at University of Tromsø. He has also been awarded Norwegian prizes for Industrial innovations and Food culture.
From when he was 17 years of age and until he graduated from the University of Bergen in 1964, Jan Raa was also farmer and vegetable producer.