DANIEL BOJAR BECAME fascinated by the strange sugar molecules while working as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard. The research group he worked in was actually focused on synthetic biology and building proteins that can be used in medicines. But the research leader allowed him to carry on.
“Glycans are fascinating; they are found everywhere in cells, but are often overlooked in research,” explains Daniel. “I have two goals with my research: to be an ambassador for glycans and to build good AI models so that they can be studied in experiments and be better understood.”
In summer 2025, Daniel Bojar hit the jackpot. He received more than SEK 20 million over five years from the EU Research Fund to study glycans in the cell nucleus. Their existence was proven by Daniel Bojar’s research group. Their discovery requires a re-evaluation of how these sugar molecules are formed, transported and used by our cells. Daniel Bojar also sees signs that these cell nucleus glycans change in disease states such as cancer, which may have therapeutic relevance.
In June, he also became one of 16 researchers in Sweden appointed as Future Research Leaders by the Foundation for Strategic Research. The researchers received a grant of SEK 15 million over a five-year period, and will undergo comprehensive leadership training. The timing of the training could not have been better. Thanks to the grants, Daniel Bojar’s group will grow from seven employees to sixteen in less than a year.
What are the challenges as your research group is set to grow so much in such a short time?
“I will do less and less work on my own projects and will be doing more supervision, coordination, administration and writing. I will have to spend more time applying for research grants and collaborating with the surrounding community. And I will lose control of some things, so the solution will be to recruit some more senior researchers who can lead different subgroups. When I started researching, I often thought about small details, but now I need to think more about where the group will be in five to ten years and less about the next scientific article. I’m looking forward to the leadership programme so that I can exchange experiences with other researchers who are on the same journey as me.”
You are very enthusiastic about your field of research, glycans. How do you spread that enthusiasm and maintain it when hypotheses fail?
“Most of what we do in the group fails; that’s just science. But it’s important to move on from that and make sure we celebrate properly each time we succeed. I find it fascinating that some researchers can study the same protein for 40 years, but that’s not me. My ambition is that we should constantly move on to new goals, and I’m just happy that other researchers are looking further and deeper into what we’ve discovered previously.”
What do you look for when recruiting researchers?
“Creative people who don’t think like others – and above all, who don’t think like me.
Half of the people I hire are doctoral students and half are researchers, and it’s important to find good ways to communicate with everyone in the group. As we grow in number, we can raise our expectations and seek answers to more complex questions.”
You joined the University of Gothenburg in 2021. How fertile is the ground here for an up-and-coming researcher?
“There’s room to grow here, both in terms of significance and physically. And there’s room for my research group even after we have grown. I must highlight the national infrastructures for research at Core Facilities and SciLifeLab. It’s fantastic that I and all the other researchers in Sweden can use these infrastructures freely. This isn’t the case in many other countries.”
Glycans
Glycans are small carbohydrates found in our cells. They are involved in a variety of biological processes. These include communication within cells, the development of diseases, immunity and the activity of antibodies. Glycans are difficult to study, and they change structure in the event of disease. Daniel Bojar’s research group is trying to understand why this happens.
Daniel Bojar
Position: Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics.
Age: 33.
Family: Wife and five-year-old daughter.
Leisure interests: Programming video games, writing fantasy books, hiking, playing boardgames.
Text: Olof Lönnehed
