Jette Lengefeld did her graduate studies at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, focusing on asymmetric cell division in the lab of Professor Yves Barral. This work started her interest in stem cells. She performed her postdoctoral studies at the MIT, USA, in the lab of Professor Angelika Amon, where she discovered cellular enlargement as an aging factor of blood stem cells.
Now, Jette Lengefeld is an Assistant Professor with two affiliations: University of Helsinki (Finland) since 2021 and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) since 2023. She was awarded the ERC Starting Grant in 2024.
In her research, Jette lengefeld discovered that cellular enlargement contributes to the functional decline of stem cells during aging. Now, her research team aims to understand how size affects stem cell function during aging. For these studies they mainly use blood (hematopoietic) stem cells.
The Lengefeld lab identifies cellular pathways that cause stem cell dysfunction during their enlargement and pathways that allow the rejuvenation of this process using molecular profiling and mouse models. They are also interested in how dysregulation of stem cell size is related to cancer.
“I am very excited to be among the recipient’s of this year's FEBS Excellence Award! This support will advance our efforts to investigate a fundamental aspect of how stem cells work by revealing the impact of cell size on stem cell function”, Lengefeld says.
FEBS launched the FEBS Excellence Awards in 2021 aimed at supporting highly competitive research in molecular life sciences. The FEBS Excellence Awards provide €100,000 funding over three years to early-career group leaders working in a FEBS country to purchase laboratory equipment and consumables.
Twitter: @JetteLeng
Linkedin: Jette Lengefeld