Thomas Perlmann

Group members:
Thomas Perlmann, group leader
Lina Dahl, postdoc
Eliza Joodmardi, senior technician
Banafsheh Kadkhodaei, postdoc
Nigel Kee, PhD stud
Ariadna Laguna, postdoc
Hilda Lundén-Miguel, research assistant
Jamie Mong, PhD stud
André Nobre, postdoc
Lia Panman, postdoc
Maria Papathanou, postdoc

THOMAS PERLMANN
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB) and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Thomas.Perlmann@ki.se

The development of the central nervous system is dependent on signaling pathways that converge on specifically expressed transcription factors. We are interested in mechanisms important for the development of specific neuronal types and how stem cells can be engineered into clinically important cell types.

We identified the orphan nuclear receptor Nurr1 as a key transcription factor in the differentiation of dopamine neurons. These are the cells that degenerate in Parkinson’s disease. In recent studies additional transcription factors influencing the early specification of dopamine neurons have been identified. We are taking advantage of our findings in attempts to engineer dopamine neurons from stem cells, efforts that we hope will be critical for the development of stem cell based therapy in Parkinson’s disease. During the last few years we have collaborated closely with the group of professor Johan Ericson who is also located at the department of Cell and Molecular Biology.

5 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Malewicz, M., Kadkhodaei, B., Kee, N. Volakakis, N. Hellman, U., Viktorsson, K., Leung, S.Y., Chen, B., Lewensohn, R., van Gent, D.C., Chen, D.J., and Perlmann, T. (2011) Essential Role for DNA-PK-mediated Phosphorylation of NR4A Nuclear Orphan Receptors in DNA Double Strand Break Repair. Genes & Development Vol 25:2031-2040.

Deng, Q., Andersson, E., Hedlund, E., Alekseenko, Z., Coppola, E. Panman, L. Millonig, J.H. Brunet, J.-F., Ericson, J., and Perlmann, T. (2011) Specific and Integrated Roles of Lmx1a, Lmx1b and Phox2a in Ventral Midbrain Development. Development, 138, 3399-3408.

Panman, L., Andersson, L., Alekseenko, Z., Hedlund, E., Kee, N., Mong, J., Uhde, C.W., Deng, Q., Sandberg, R., Stanton, L.W., Ericson, J*. and Perlmann, T*. (2011) Transcription factor-induced lineage selection of stem cell-derived neural progenitor cells. Cell Stem Cell, 8, 663-675.

Friling, S, Andersson, E, Thompson, L.H., Jönsson, M.E., Hebsgaard, J.B., Nanou, E., Alekseenko, Z., Marklund, U., Kjellander, S., Volakakis, N., Hovatta, O., El Manira, A., Björklund, A., Perlmann, T.*, and Ericson, J.* (2009) Efficient production of mesencephalic dopamine neurons by Lmx1a expression in embryonic stem cells Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A, 106, 7613-1618.

Andersson, E., Tryggvason, U., Deng, Q., Friling, S., Alekseenko, Z., Robert, B. Perlmann, T.* and Ericson, J.* (2006) Identification of intrinsic determinants of midbrain dopamine neurons. Cell 124, 393-405.

*Co-senior authors

LINKS:

For more information, please visit our lab websites here or here.