About me
Professor, tumor biology, Karolinska Institutet 2008-
Chairperson, Cancer theme U2/Bioclinicum 2012-
Chairperson, Karolinska consultative assembly, an 82-person body representing KI’s faculty, students and staff, 2012
Chairperson, Karolinska consultative faculty assembly, 2011-2013
Coordinator EU-consortium EUCAAD, 2008-2012
Member of advisory board Paoli Calmette Cancer Center, Marseille
External reviewer Vetenskapsrådet, Cancerfonden, Fernströms stiftelse, Internationella grants etc
Director of PhD studies, OnkPat, 2004-2014
Research description
My research is focused on studies how individual cells aggregate and form functional organs and how these processes are reversed during malignancy. To study these questions, my lab use a number in vitro and in vivo model systems. We also have access to patient materials to verify our pre-clinical findings.
Selected publications:
AmotL2 disrupts apical-basal cell polarity and promotes tumor invasion. Mahdi Mojallal, Yujuan Zheng, Sara Hultin, Stéphane Audebert, Tanja van Harn, Per Johnson, Claes Lenander, Nicolas Fritz, Christin Mieth, Martin Corcoran, Marja Hallström, Johan Hartman, Nathalie Mazure, Thomas Weide, Dan Grandér, Jean-Paul Borg, Per Uhlén, and Lars Holmgren. Nature Communications, 2014 Aug 1;5:4557.
AmotL2 links VE-cadherin to contractile actin fibers necessary for aortic lumen expansion. Sara Hultin, Yujuan Zheng, Mahdi Mojallal, Simona Vertuani, Christian Gentili, Martial Balland, Rachel Milloud, Heinz-Georg Belting, Markus Affolter, Christian S. M. Helker, Ralf H. Adams, Wiebke Herzog, Per Uhlen, Arindam Majumdar, and Lars Holmgren. Nature Communications. 2014;5:3743
The p130 isoform of angiomotin is required for Yap-mediated hepatic epithelial cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. Yi C, Shen Z, Stemmer-Rachamimov A, Dawany N, Troutman S, Showe LC, Liu Q, Shimono A, Sudol M, Holmgren L, Stanger BZ, Kissil JL. Sci Signal. 2013 Sep 3;6(291):ra77.
VE-PTP regulates VEGFR2 activity in stalk cells to establish endothelial cell polarity and lumen formation. Hayashi M, Majumdar A, Li X, Adler J, Sun Z, Vertuani S, Hellberg C, Mellberg S, Koch S, Dimberg A, Koh GY, Dejana E, Belting HG, Affolter M, Thurston G,Holmgren L, Vestweber D, Claesson-Welsh L. Nature Communications. 2013;4:1672.
A tight junction-associated Merlin-angiomotin complex mediates Merlin's regulation of mitogenic signaling and tumor suppressive functions. Yi C, Troutman S, Fera D, Stemmer-Rachamimov A, Avila JL, Christian N, Persson NL, Shimono A, Speicher DW, Marmorstein R, Holmgren L, Kissil JL. Cancer Cell. 2011 Apr 12;19(4):527
Education
Professor, OnkPat, Karolinska Institutet, 2008
Associate Professor, Karolinska Institutet 1998
Post-doc, Harvard Medical School, 1993-5
Ph.D., Karolinska Institutet, 1991
Academic honours, awards and prizes
Alvarengas award, Fernströms young investigator award