Dan Larhammar
Dan Larhammar (born April 1, 1956) is a Swedish academic professor in molecular cell biology at Uppsala University. His research concerns evolution, neurobiology, endocrinology and pharmacology. As of 2021 Larhammar leads a research team at Uppsala that studies receptors for brain neurotransmitters and uses zebrafish as a model species to investigate the localization and functions of memory proteins. Larhammar also serves as President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 2018 and is a skepticism activist. Education Larhammar received his pharmacist degree in 1980 and a PhD in medical science at Uppsala University in 1984. Career Since 1994 Larhammar has been a professor of molecular biology at Uppsala University where he has supervised 22 students to a PhD degree. His research focuses on three lines of research: clarifying the evolution of the mechanisms for long-term memory, resolving the evolution important gene families in vertebrates, and investigating G protein-coupled receptors which make them bind to and respond to, or reject, certain ligands. Using zebrafish, Larhammar explores the localization and functions of the memory proteins. His team works on discovering at what point new functions rose and how they have changed over the course of evolution, especially in gene families that include neuropeptides, G-protein-coupled receptors, ion channels, and genes involved in vision. In 2007, Larhammar was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and serves as its president since 2018. He was the chairman of the Swedish Skeptics' Association 1998–2004. As a critic of pseudoscience, he has mostly examined alternative medicine and creationism. Activism Larhammar is a skeptic of pseudoscience, creationism and alternative medicine. In an issue of Skeptical Inquirer Larhammar addresses an article written by a creationist, Dmitrii A. Kuznetsov, attempting to disprove evolution by isolating mRNA from three species of voles. Each vole species was found to have a substance that blocked the production of protein from the other two species' mRNA production of protein, but did not block its own species' mRNA. The inhibiting substance however did not prevent protein synthesis of two distantly related mRNAs. Larhammar looked into the study and found that several sources and journals listed in the study did not exist. Larhammar also criticizes the lack of qualitative data of the experiments, relying only on quantitative results. In an interview with Linda Givetash, Larhammar criticizes the herbal remedies for COVID-19 pushed by China. Larhammar addresses studies from Chinese and Japanese journals that support herbal remedies do not have adequate sample sizes, use vague terms and nonpharmacological concepts, or to be testing too many combinations of herbs to parse out their specific effects. During another interview at the European Academics Science Advisory Council, Larhammar discusses the harm alternative medicine can have, especially during a pandemic. He states people may rely on non-working methods in lieu of seeking professional help with methods backed by evidence. Furthermore, these people will think they are protected, in turn causing them to take greater risks exposing themselves and others to the virus. This, Larhammar says, can lead those