How cells protect their DNA, regulate essential proteins, interact with their environment, and function within complex tissues are important questions in modern biology. The new group leaders joining Lund Stem Cell Center each approach these challenges from different scientific perspectives, contributing to the center’s efforts to better understand stem cell function in health and disease.
“We are very excited to welcome these new group leaders to the Lund Stem Cell Center and as part of our Strategic Research Area, StemTherapy,” says Malin Parmar, director of the Lund Stem Cell Center. “Together, they bring new perspectives and expertise that will strengthen our collaborative environment and support both fundamental discoveries and the development of future therapies.”
Understanding how cells stay functional over time
Among the new recruits is Dr Giulia Saredi, a molecular biologist with a background in chromatin biology and DNA repair. She studies chromatin, the structure that packages DNA, and its role in maintaining genome stability.
“An important question in my work is how chromatin structure influences genome integrity in long-lived cells, such as neurons and stem cells,” says Giulia Saredi.
Before joining Lund University, she completed her PhD at the BRIC Institute in Copenhagen, where she studied chromatin assembly and DNA repair, and then carried out postdoctoral research at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee in Scotland, continuing to investigate how chromatin-associated proteins maintain genome stability.
Today, her group combines several approaches including molecular biology techniques and mass spectrometry, alongside targeted protein degradation – an approach that allows researchers to remove specific proteins and observe how cells respond – to get a better mechanistic understanding as to how chromatin dynamics influence cellular function.
“The Lund Stem Cell Center offers the ideal collaborative environment where our lab can establish cellular models that can be used to study the interplay between chromatin dynamics and genome maintenance in physiologically and clinically relevant cell types,” she adds. “This is both exciting and essential for advancing the field.”
Regulating protein stability in stem cells and disease
For Agatheeswaran Subramaniam, joining as a principal investigator represents a continuation of a journey that began at the center several years ago. After completing his PhD at Utkal University in India, he joined Lund Stem Cell Center as a postdoctoral researcher, where his scientific focus began to take shape.
“I first studied leukemia biology as a doctoral student and developed an interest in how stem cells are regulated in both health and disease,” says Agatheeswaran Subramaniam. “During my postdoctoral training, my interests expanded into hematopoietic stem cell biology and targeted protein degradation. That period shaped my research and ultimately drew me to build my own group here in Lund.”
He is now an associate professor in the Division of Molecular Medicine and Gene Therapy at Lund University’s Faculty of Medicine, where his research focuses on protein degradation pathways, how cells regulate and remove proteins, and how these processes influence stem cell function and cancer development.
“Protein degradation is one of the most tightly regulated processes in eukaryotic cells,” he explains. “I am interested in harnessing these pathways on two fronts: to uncover new regulators of stem cell biology, and as a strategy to degrade therapeutically relevant protein targets.
“Rather than simply blocking a protein's activity, as most conventional drugs do, targeted protein degradation eliminates the target protein from the cell entirely, opening the door to targets long considered "undruggable," adds Agatheeswaran Subramaniam.
Engineering new ways to study human biology
Maria Nordin, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Lund University’s Faculty of Engineering (LTH), brings a complementary perspective and becomes the first principal investigator from another faculty to join the center.
Her background is in microfluidics and bioengineering, and during her PhD she worked on acoustofluidic systems for cell and particle manipulation. During her postdoctoral research, her focus shifted toward stem cell biology and engineered human model systems, shaped by time in interdisciplinary research environments including UCLA and the University of Copenhagen.
“The intestine is an incredibly dynamic system where stem cells, stroma, microbiota, metabolites, and mechanical forces continuously interact,” Maria Nordin explains. “We still understand surprisingly little about how these components work together.”
Her research now sits at the interface of engineering and biology and focuses on developing advanced human model systems such as organoids and microfluidic platforms, which are designed to precisely control and manipulate very small amounts of fluids through microscopic channels, to study how the intestinal microenvironment regulates stem cell behaviour and tissue organisation.
“We use engineering tools not only to build models, but to ask biological questions in new ways,” she adds. “We develop experimental systems that can complement and support biological and translational research across many areas.”
By engineering controlled environments, her research aims to recreate aspects of human tissues in the lab, making it possible to study complex biological processes that are otherwise difficult to observe.
“I am interested in applying these systems towards understanding intestinal ageing, inflammation, regeneration, and intestinal-microbiota interactions in health and disease,” says Maria Nordin. “We are also increasingly interested in organ–organ interactions and collaborative applications involving other tissues and physiological systems. Building bridges between engineering-based approaches and stem cell biology is something that I am very interested in.”
Exploring immunity at the body’s barrier tissues
The center also welcomes Inta Gribonika, assistant professor in the Division of Molecular Hematology at the Faculty of Medicine. Her research focuses on how the immune system functions at barrier tissues, such as the skin, which form the interface between the body and its environment.
“The skin is not just a passive shield that divides your inner self from the outside world,” says Inta Gribonika. “It is an immunologically active tissue that is central to our wellbeing and homeostasis and we should be mindful of how we treat this critical barrier to maintain tissue integrity, youthfulness and health.”
She completed her PhD in immunology at the University of Gothenburg where she studied antibody responses in the gastrointestinal tract, before continuing with postdoctoral research at both the Sahlgrenska Cancer Center and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States. There, she investigated how the microbiota shapes immune responses in the skin. Now at Lund University, she has established her own research group to explore how these mechanisms operate across barrier tissues.
“My lab is focused on understanding skin’s humoral immunity, specifically germinal center-like responses, B cell development and topically secreted antibody function,” she explains.
Her team’s work is helping to challenge long-standing assumptions in the field while uncovering how immune cells interact with the microbiota to regulate tissue health.
“For a very long time, the skin was thought to be completely devoid of B cells,” she adds. “Each experiment teaches us something new and we are excited to explore this uncharted field of cutaneous immunity.
Reflecting on joining the center, she highlights: “We truly believe that working in a cross-disciplinary environment is essential for pushing scientific discovery forward, and we are always open to new collaborations and scientific brainstorming.”
Strengthening a collaborative research environment
By bringing together expertise that spans molecular mechanisms and advanced human model systems, the new group leaders expand the ways stem cell and regenerative medicine research can be approached at the center. Their combined perspectives create new possibilities to connect fundamental biology with experimental and technological approaches, supporting both discovery-driven research and innovative therapeutic applications.
“The Center brings together world-leading expertise in stem cell biology and in translating stem cell science into therapies,” summarizes Agatheeswaran Subramaniam. “For someone establishing an independent research program, it offers strong scientific infrastructure, outstanding collaborators, and a culture that supports young group leaders.”
