Jette Lengefeld joins Institute of Biotechnology

PhD Jette Lengefeld started as a new group leader in April. Her research focuses on stem cells and their aging factors.

Before joining the Institute of Biotechnology, Jette Lengefeld was a post-doc at MIT. In 2022, she will also be an Assistant Professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

“The ambitious and thriving environment, the high quality of diverse research and the cutting-edge infrastructure make the Institute of Biotechnology the perfect place for my future research group. I am excited to become an active member of the scientific community at the BI, to build an interactive environment of scientific exchange and to contribute to the scientific success of BI”, she says.

Does the size of stem cells matter?

Lengefeld is fascinated by stem cell and the factors that cause them to age and contribute to disease development like cancer.

“I focus particularly on blood (hematopoietic) stem cells and how failure in cellular size regulation causes them to lose their functions” she describes her line of research.

Her group’s research will enable the understanding of how stem cells build our tissues, how we age and how we can prevent diseases that aging causes, like cancer.

Some aging factors for stem cells are already known, and Lengefeld discovered cellular size as new one.

“This discovery comes with a new exciting question: how does size affect stem cells during health, aging and disease? I am also fascinated by using size manipulations to rejuvenated old stem cells.” she explains.

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Jette Lengefeld’s CV in a nutshell

2006-2011

Undergraduate studies in Germany, University of Osnabrück and Münster

2012-2017

Graduate studies in Switzerland, ETH Zurich (Yves Barral)

2017-2021          

Postdoctoral studies in USA, MIT (Angelika Amon)

2021 

Group leader in Finland, Institute of Biotechnology - University of Helsinki

2022    

Assistant Professor, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.