About me
I am a professor of clinical immunology at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet.
I was trained as a medical doctor and graduated from Sun Yat-Sen Medical University in China in 1993. During 1993 and 1994, I worked as a physician at the Guangzhou Respiratory Disease Research Institute. I obtained my PhD degree in Clinical Immunology / Immunology at the Karolinska Institutet in 1999 and carried out postdoc training at Harvard Medical School in 2000. In 2001 I came back to the Karolinska Institutet where I became an associate professor and group leader in 2004. I was appointed professor of clinical immunology at the Karolinska Institutet in 2011.
I was a guest professor at Beijing University (2005-2009), Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Centre (2012-2021) and Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute (2015-2021). I was also a visiting scientist/professor in Harvard Medical School (2012), Rockefeller University (2013-2015) and the Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT (2015-2017).
I have supervised 12 PhD students and trained 23 postdocs and have published altogether 141 papers in areas of immunoglobulin gene diversifications, primary immunodeficiencies, genome instability, infectious diseases, B cell malignancies and cancer genetics.
Research description
Current projects
Regulation of immunoglobulin class switch recombination in human B cells
The project is aimed at understanding the complex molecular mechanisms involved in DNA editing, repair and recombination during immunoglobulin class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM) and their involvement in the pathophysiological processes leading to immunodeficiency, genome instability and cancer development in humans.
Induced pluripotent stems cells a platform for personalized diagnosis and therapy in patients with primary immunodeficiency
The project is aimed at reprogramming the fibroblasts or peripheral blood B cells derived from IgA deficient (IgAD) patients into pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and to re-differentiate these iPS cells into antibody-producing B cells. If successful, this study may provide a potentially curative treatment in patients with IgA deficiency. They will also provide a methodological platform for studies aimed at replacing cells in patients with a variety of other primary immunodeficiency diseases as well as autoimmune and neurological disorders associated with these diseases.
Discovery of therapeutic targets in B cell lymphoma by next generation sequencing
The project is aimed at identifying potentially treatable molecular targets in mature B cell lymphomas (with focus on diffuse large B cell lymphomas and mantle cell lymphomas) by high-throughput, next generation-sequencing omic- technologies such as whole genome and exome sequencing and RNA-seq.
Antibody therapy against CVID-19
The project is aimed at establishing a passive immunotherapy against coronavirus COVID19. To reach this overall goal, we will obtain blood samples from convalescent donors, i.e. people who have recovered from the infection, to isolate antibodies that can be used to prevent and to treat the disease.
Our research is funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR), Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden), European Research Council (ERC), Stockholm Cancer Society (Radiumhemmets), Center for innovative Medicine (CIMED), EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
Selected publications
Bispecific IgG neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 variants and prevents escape in mice. De Gasparo R, Pedotti M, Simonelli L, Nickl P, et al Nature 2021 Mar; doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03461-y. Online ahead of print.
Genome-wide mutational signatures revealed distinct developmental paths for human B cell lymphomas. Ye X, Ren W, Liu D, Li X, Li W, Wang X, et al J Exp Med 2021 Feb;218(2):e20200573. doi: 10.1084/jem.20200573.
Human T-bet Governs Innate and Innate-like Adaptive IFN-γ Immunity against Mycobacteria. Yang R, Mele F, Worley L, Langlais D, Rosain J, Benhsaien I, et al Cell 2020 Dec 3:S0092-8674(20)31453-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.046.
Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes. ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium Nature 2020 02;578(7793):82-93
Genomic basis for RNA alterations in cancer PCAWG Transcriptome Core Group, et al Nature 2020 578(7793);129-136
Genetic landscape of hepatitis B virus-associated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Ren W, Ye X, Su H, Li W, Liu D, Pirmoradian M, et al Blood 2018 06;131(24):2670-2681
Reduced immunoglobulin gene diversity in patients with Cornelia de Lange syndrome. Björkman A, Du L, van der Burg M, Cormier-Daire V, Borck G, Pié J, et al J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2018 01;141(1):408-411.e8
Combined immunodeficiency and Epstein-Barr virus-induced B cell malignancy in humans with inherited CD70 deficiency. Abolhassani H, Edwards ES, Ikinciogullari A, Jing H, Borte S, Buggert M, et al J. Exp. Med. 2017 01;214(1):91-106
Common variants at PVT1, ATG13-AMBRA1, AHI1 and CLEC16A are associated with selective IgA deficiency. Bronson PG, Chang D, Bhangale T, Seldin MF, Ortmann W, Ferreira RC, et al Nat. Genet. 2016 11;48(11):1425-1429
Genetic basis of PD-L1 overexpression in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Georgiou K, Chen L, Berglund M, Ren W, de Miranda NF, Lisboa S, et al Blood 2016 06;127(24):3026-34
Frequent alterations in cytoskeleton remodelling genes in primary and metastatic lung adenocarcinomas. Wu K, Zhang X, Li F, Xiao D, Hou Y, Zhu S, et al Nat Commun 2015 Dec;6():10131
Aberrant recombination and repair during immunoglobulin class switching in BRCA1-deficient human B cells. Björkman A, Qvist P, Du L, Bartish M, Zaravinos A, Georgiou K, et al Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2015 Feb;112(7):2157-62
B cell super-enhancers and regulatory clusters recruit AID tumorigenic activity. Qian J, Wang Q, Dose M, Pruett N, Kieffer-Kwon KR, Resch W, et al Cell 2014 Dec;159(7):1524-37
Exome sequencing reveals novel mutation targets in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas derived from Chinese patients. de Miranda NF, Georgiou K, Chen L, Wu C, Gao Z, Zaravinos A, et al Blood 2014 Oct;124(16):2544-53
A regulatory role for the cohesin loader NIPBL in nonhomologous end joining during immunoglobulin class switch recombination. Enervald E, Du L, Visnes T, Björkman A, Lindgren E, Wincent J, et al J. Exp. Med. 2013 Nov;210(12):2503-13
DNA repair genes are selectively mutated in diffuse large B cell lymphomas. de Miranda NF, Peng R, Georgiou K, Wu C, Falk Sörqvist E, Berglund M, et al J. Exp. Med. 2013 Aug;210(9):1729-42
Nurture your scientific curiosity early in your research career. Jagodic M, Stridh P, Gad AK, Paine A, Udekwu KI, Sjöholm LK, et al Nat. Genet. 2013 Feb;45(2):116-8
Education
-Bachelor degree in Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen Medical University, China, 1988-1993
-PhD degree in Clinical Immunology/Immunology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, 1994-1999
-Executive education program of leadership development, Harvard Business School, USA, 2017-2019
Academic honours, awards and prizes
-Scholarship for postdoctoral medical research, Swedish Society for Medical Research, 2003
-Assistant Professor position, 4 years, awarded by the Swedish Research Council, 2003
-Young investigator prize, awarded by the Swedish Society of Medicine, 2007
-ERC Starting Grant, awarded by the European Research Council, 2009
-Senior researcher position, 6 years, awarded by the Swedish Research Council, 2010
-Distinguished Alumni, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 2011
-Senior investigator award, 5 years, Center for Innovation Medicine, 2016
-Elected member of Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet, 2019