Gunbjorg has a PhD in 1999 from Uppsala University, Sweden, where she was studying integrins in cellular adhesion. She is presently head of the Tumor Biology Research group at the Arctic University of Norway-UiT where they focus on the role of the tumor microenvironment and in particular proteolytic enzymes and extracellular matrix molecules in cancer cell invasion and metastasis. A recent interest of the group is the effects of nutrition on metastasis, work that is performed in close collaboration with the Biogerontolgy Group at the ANZAC Medical Research Institute and Charles Perkins Centre, Sydney.