Emma Lundberg
Research Interests
Our research is focused on spatial proteomics and cell biology. At the interface between bioimaging and proteomics are fundamental aspects of human cell biology systematically assessed at a single cell level using an antibody-based approach. The aim is to understand how human proteins are distributed in time and space, how variations and deviations in localization can contribute to cell type specificity as well as disease.
Compartmentalization of biological processes is a fundamental principle of eukaryotic cells that enables multiple processes to occur in parallel. The compartments are specialized for a particular cellular function and contain the molecules needed to fulfill it. Defects in compartment organization or protein mislocalization underlie the cause of many forms of human disease. Despite a great deal of research, basic questions about the spatial organization of many proteins and biological processes remain unanswered. Using computational image analysis, we are also investigating variations of protein spatiotemporal expression patterns at the single cell level, in relation to the cell cycle or other deterministic factors.
A part of our work is the creation of the Cell Atlas, part of the Human Protein Atlas project, where the subcellular localization of all human proteins is being determined.
Through various measures we try to engage a wider community in our work. For example through a Citizen Science project called “Project Discovery” for classification of protein patterns in microscope images, integrated into the massively multiplayer online Sci-Fi game Eve Online with over 300.000 participants, and through the Kaggle Challenges “Human Protein Atlas Image Classification Challenge”, and ““Human Protein Atlas – Single Cell Classification Challenge”,
Emma Lundberg is also Director of the Cell Profiling unit at SciLifeLab, enabling researchers to make use of the knowledge and resources of the Human Protein Atlas applied to add spatial proteomics to their research projects.
Group members
Emma Lundberg, Professor
Charlotte Stadler, Head of Cell Profiling national unit
Ulrika Axelsson, Lab manager HPA Cell Atlas
Anna Martinez Casals, Lab manager and researcher
Anna Bäckström, Research engineer
Anthony Cesnik, Postdoc
Nicolai Dorka, PhD-student
Jenny Fall, Lab technician
Christian Gnann, PhD-student
Jayasankar Kaimal, Research engineer
Trang Le, PhD-student
Diana Mahdessian, Postdoc
Carolina Oses Sepulveda, Research engineer
Wei Ouyang, Researcher
Emmie Pohjanen, PhD-student
Inna Sitnik, Research engineer
Hao Xu, Researcher
Casper Winsnes, PhD-student
Lovisa Stenström, PhD-student
Sanem Sariyar, PhD-student