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Bennie Lemmens

Bennie Lemmens

Researcher | Assistant Professor
Visiting address: Tomtebodavägen 23A, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C2 Medicinsk biokemi och biofysik, C2 Genome biology Bartek, 171 77 Stockholm

About me

  • Assistant Professor &

  • Principal investigator at Department of Medical Biochemistry and
    Biophysics / Group Leader SciLifeLab

    I am group leader and assistant professor at Karolisnka Institutet and have dedicated my career to understand how cells propagate and maintain genetic information. Aiming to address fundamental questions, I developed original experimental setups in several fields of molecular biology, including meiosis, DNA repair, RNA processing, DNA replication, cell division and cancer research. During my PhD, I used classical genetics and in-depth chromosome morphology assays to reveal how germ cells prevent toxic chromosome fusions at programmed DNA breaks (Lemmens et al., PLOS genetics 2012), I developed ultrasensitive PCR assays and transgenic reporter systems to reveal the existence of a single DNA secondary structure in developing animals and showed how such DNA knots fuel the formation of genomic deletions in developing organs (Lemmens et al., Nature Commun. 2015) and I devised forward genetics screens in living animals to identify fundamental principles of DNA repair pathway choice (Kamp &

  • Lemmens et al. Nature Commun. 2022 and NAR 2022). For my postdoctoral studies I moved to Sweden to apply my genetics skills to human cell biology. I set up CRISPR technologies to generate unique human cell lines in which we could rapidly degrade endogenous DNA replication factors at will and combined these with high-throughput live cell imaging setups to uncover a central link between DNA replication signaling and mitotic entry (Lemmens et al., Mol. Cell 2018
  • Lemmens et al. JCB 2019). As a Swedish Cancer Society fellow, I adopted additional cutting-edge single-cell imaging techniques and chemical genetics screens to study how oncogenes impair DNA replication fidelity. Today, my team develops advanced time-resolved genetics setups, 3D tissue expansion and super-resolution microscopy assays to improve our understanding of DNA replication initiation and cancer etiology. 
  •  

Lemmens laboratory
↳ DNA replication

↳ Cancer genetics and drug respones 


  • ↳ Time-resolved genetics
    ↳ Nanoscale imaging


    2022-2027: ASPIRE award for Innovative Cancer Research (Mark foundation, US)
    2022-2026: 100% KID grant for top-ranked junior group leaders at KI
    2020-2021: Awarded start-up grant in Medicine by the Ã…ke Wiberg foundation
    2020-2021: Awarded start-up grant by the Jeanssons foundation
    2020-2021: Blue Sky Continuation Award for Innovative Cancer Research
    2020-2021: Awarded Special KI research grant for top-ranked junior
    scientists
    2020-2024: KID funding to support doctoral education
    2020-2024: Awarded 4-year Starting Grant by the Swedish Research Council
    (VR)
    2019-2020: Blue Sky Award for Innovative Cancer Research (KI-Cancer/StratCan)
    2018-2019: Awared KI research grant for young scientists
    2017-2020: Awared 3-year fellowship by the Swedisch Cancer foundation
    2016-2017: Awared KI research grant for young scientists
    2014-2016: Awarded 2-year fellowship by the Wenner-Gren foundation

  • Research

    • My research group focuses on understanding how human cells copy their DNA and
      maintain genome stability. We apply advanced genetics and imaging techniques
      to control and visualize DNA replication in time and space.

    Articles

    • Article: JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY. 2024;67(11):8609-8629
      Gama FHDS; Dutra LA; Hawgood M; dos Reis CV; Serafim RAM; Ferreira Jr MA; Teodoro BVM; Takarada J; Santiago AS; Balourdas D-I; Nilsson A-S; Urien B; Almeida VM; Gileadi C; Ramos PZ; Salmazo A; Vasconcelos SNS; Cunha MR; Mueller S; Knapp S; Massirer KB; Elkins JM; Gileadi O; Mascarello A; Lemmens BBLG; Guimaraes CRW; Azevedo H; Counago RM
    • Article: CELL DEATH AND DIFFERENTIATION. 2023;30(7):1666-1678
      Kanellis DC; Zisi A; Skrott Z; Lemmens B; Espinoza JA; Kosar M; Bjorkman A; Li X; Arampatzis S; Bartkova J; Andujar-Sanchez M; Fernandez-Capetillo O; Mistrik M; Lindstrom MS; Bartek J
    • Article: NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH (NAR). 2022;50(11):6235-6250
      Kamp JA; Lemmens BBLG; Romeijn RJ; Gonzalez-Prieto R; Olsen JV; Vertegaal ACO; van Schendel R; Tijsterman M
    • Article: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. 2021;12(1):7126
      Kamp JA; Lemmens BBLG; Romeijn RJ; Changoer SC; van Schendel R; Tijsterman M
    • Article: MOLECULAR CELL. 2018;71(1):117-128.e3
      Lemmens B; Hegarat N; Akopyan K; Sala-Gaston J; Bartek J; Hochegger H; Lindqvist A
    • Article: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. 2015;6:8909
      Lemmens B; van Schendel R; Tijsterman M
    • Article: GENETICS. 2013;195(3):1187-1191
      Waaijers S; Portegijs V; Kerver J; Lemmens BBLG; Tijsterman M; van den Heuvel S; Boxem M
    • Article: PLOS GENETICS. 2013;9(3):e1003339
      Johnson NM; Lemmens BBLG; Tijsterman M
    • Article: PLOS GENETICS. 2013;9(2):e1003276
      Lemmens BBLG; Johnson NM; Tijsterman M
    • Article: CURRENT BIOLOGY. 2006;16(19):1950-1955
      Mamely I; van Vugt MA; Smits VAJ; Semple JI; Lemmens B; Perrakis A; Medema RH; Freire R

    All other publications

    • Preprint: CHEMRXIV. 2023
      H. de Souza Gama F; Dutra L; Hawgood M; Vinícius dos Reis C; Serafim R; Ferreira Jr. M; V. M. Teodoro B; Takarada J; Santiago A; M. Almeida V; Gileadi C; Zonzini Ramos P; Salmazo A; Vasconcelos S; Cunha M; Ballourdas D-I; Mueller S; Knapp S; Massirer K; Elkins J; Gileadi O; Macarello A; Lemmens B; R. W. Guimarães C; Azevedo H; Couñago R
    • Review: JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY. 2019;218(12):3892-3902
      Lemmens B; Lindqvist A
    • Review: CHROMOSOMA. 2011;120(1):1-21
      Lemmens BBLG; Tijsterman M

    Grants

    • The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research
      1 November 2023 - 1 November 2027
    • Swedish Research Council
      1 January 2020 - 31 December 2023

    Employments

    • Researcher, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡, 2020-
    • Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡, 2021-2027

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