Michael Thorndyke, formally at Royal Holloway, University of London and Director of Research in Biological Sciences, was appointed as Director and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Distinguished Research Chair in Experimental Marine Biology at Kristineberg Marine Research Station in 2002. Now “The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences-­‐ Kristineberg. He is currently “Head of International Development at the Sven Lovén Centre and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Distinguished Chair of Experimental Marine Biology, as well as a member of the Panel of Experts for the UN World Ocean Assessment Report.

For many years his research focused on the cellular, molecular and genetic bases of development and adult regeneration in tunicates and echinoderms. Recently attention has been focused on the critical issue of ocean acidification and warming, where these molecular tools have been instrumental in revealing new avenues for analysis and understanding. He has also been involved in many large-­‐scale European Infrastructure projects and is currently coordinator for ASSEMBLE (http://www.assemblemarine.org) and EuroMarine (http://www.euromarineconsortium.eu) as well as being Scientific Coordinator and member of the Steering Committee for EMBRC (http://www.embrc.eu). He is also past-President of MARS, The European Network of Marine Research Institutes and Stations (http://www.marsnetwork.org/).

In 2011 he was awarded the Royal Swedish Academy of Science Linnaeus Gold medal for his contributions to Marine Genomics and the International Development of Marine Research Stations