Solving the mystery of stem cell aging
Stem cells are essential for maintaining tissue health. The functionality of stem cells declines during aging. This decline contributes to physiological deterioration during aging and can lead to diseases.
Our research aims to understand how stem cells age and whether we could use this knowledge to develop therapeutic approaches to maintain stem cell function during aging and in disease prevention.
Open positions
Lengefeld lab receives Novo Nordisk Foundation grant
We are very excited to receive funding from Novo Nordisk Foundation to advance our research on healthy aging. This support allows us to reveal how rejuvenating the blood system can affect metabolic health and cellular function across the body. We will push forward innovative approaches to extend health-span and address one of today’s most pressing biomedical challenges.
We are hiring two Postdocs and 2 PhDs. Join our dynamic research team at University of Helsinki and Karolinska Institute exploring the impact of cellular enlargement on stem cell function and metabolism during aging. View the open positions at this link: jobs.helsinki.fi
Deadline: 1st of March 2026
Our research
Stem cell size in health and disease.
We discovered that cellular enlargement contributes to the functional decline of stem cells during aging. Our aim is to understand how size affects stem cell function during aging. For these studies we mainly use blood (hematopoietic) stem cells.
Ongoing research projects:
We use molecular profiling and mouse models to identify the molecular mechanisms impairing fitness of large stem cells focusing particularly on metabolism.
We aim to identify ways to rejuvenate stem cells by affecting their size. The goal of this project is to find ways how to improve stem cell function during aging and in disease.
We utilize blood stem cells from mice and humans to identify factors that facilitate leukemia in vivo and to investigate the underlying mechanisms.
About us
One lab, two locations.
The University of Helsinki (UH) is one of the leading multidisciplinary research universities and ranks among the top 100 universities in the world. We are part of the Institute of Biotechnology at UH that houses multidisciplinary research groups and excellent infrastructures..
Karolinska Institutet (KI) is Sweden’s single largest center of medical academic research and consistently ranked amongst the world’s best medical schools. We are located at the HERM – Department of Medicine that conducts biomedical research at the international research front.
Our funding sources
Sigrid Juselius Stiftelse
Swedish Research Council
Karolinska Institutet
Centre of Excellence Research Council of Finland
Helsinki Institute
of Life Science
Loo and Hans Osterman Foundation
University of Helsinki - Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine (DPBM)
European Research Council
Federation of European Biochemical Societies
Latest news from the Lab
Lengefeld lab receives Novo Nordisk Foundation grant
We are very excited to receive funding from Novo Nordisk Foundation to advance our research on healthy aging. This support allows us to reveal how rejuvenating the blood system can affect metabolic health and cellular function across the body. We will push forward innovative approaches to extend health-span and address one of today’s most pressing biomedical challenges.
We are hiring two Postdocs and 2 PhDs. Join our dynamic research team at University of Helsinki and Karolinska Institute exploring the impact of cellular enlargement on stem cell function and metabolism during aging. View the open positions at this link: jobs.helsinki.fi
Deadline: 1st of March 2026
Lengefeld Lab receives ERC Starting Grant
Over the moon to receive an ERC Starting Grant! We will study how the size of stem cells affects their function.
First review of the lab published. Congratulations, Daniel and team!
Cellular enlargement - A new hallmark of aging? We highlight the “hidden” connection between cell size and aging-related pathologies in many cell types.
Thanks to Swedish Research Council for awarding us the Starting Grant! We will study how size affects blood stem cells
A new lab tradition is born 😀