Vegar Ottesen is a post-doctoral researcher at the department of chemical engineering. He has an M.Sc. in bio-nanotechnology and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. Ottesen has two major roles research wise. He conducts work on biological nanomaterials, primarily cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs), and is currently part of an inter-disciplinary team working on development and production of novel PCR reagents for a SARS-CoV-2 (commonly referred to as the coronavirus) test. The reagents are generally useful, and are currently used by the Norwegian government in the ongoing pandemic.