Ulrica Edlund

I am professor in Polymer Technology at KTH and associated faculty at Karolinska Institute, vice director of AIMES – Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences, vice director of the Materials platform at KTH, as well as an elected member of IVA, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

My research interests comprise synthesis, surface modification, characterization, and materials design of polymers, with a special focus on the development of functional and advanced formulations and materials from renewable resources.

I work with the design of renewable functional materials for a sustainable future from terrestrial and marine biomass including forestry biomass, algae, and agricultural residues. As a director of MistraTerraClean, a large research program targeting smart materials for clean air and water, I work with adsorption membrane materials for water purification. Inventions include renewable hydrogels, a non-destructive, one-pot technique for the covalent surface modification of biomaterials, drug delivery microspheres, bioplastics, and barrier formulations based on more or less purified non-cellulosic oligo- and polysaccharide-rich fractions generated in commercial wood processing operations such as pulping.

Materials are developed with the following targets:

*Enabling environmentally sound management of components and all wastes

*Made from renewable resources

*Produced with resource- and energy-efficient and clean technologies

*Property profiles that make them attractive and feasible substitutes to some of the non-sustainable materials used today.

I serve as the vice director for the Materials Platform at KTH.