Erna Magnúsdóttir Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biomedical Science and Anatomy
Principal Investigator
Erna received her undegraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Iceland in 1999. After working at deCode Genetics for two years she joined a doctoral program in Biological Sciences at Columbia University in New York City. There she studied transcriptional control of cell differentiation in the mouse epidermis and immune system, in the laboratory of Professor Kathryn Calame. She received the doctorate in 2007 for her thesis on the transcription factor Blimp1 in epidermal terminal differentiation. Erna then joined the group of Azim Surani at the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge University, to study the transcriptional contol of embryonic cell fate decisions, focusing on the the specification of mouse primordial germ cells. Erna joined the BioMedical Center at the University of Iceland in 2012 to conduct research into the transcriptional control of cell state transitions in health and disease.
Thejus B. Venkatesh, M.Sc.
Doctoral student
Thejus studied for his Bachelor's degree in fisheries science from ath the Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, in Karnataka India, graduating in 2017. He then went on to study stem cell technology and regenerative biology ath the Manipal Insitute of Regenerative Medicine in Karnataka. He joined Prof. Colin Jamora's group for his master's project, defending his thesis on the regulation and activation of KLK 10 in skin fibrosis, in the spring of 2019. He joined our group in the spring semester of 2020 to study transcription factors in mouse primordial germ cell specification.
Žarko Urošević, B.S.
Master's student
Žarko completed their bachelor's degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Iceland in the spring of 2019 after which they started their master's studies. They joined our group in the spring semester of 2020 and are interested in cell cycle regulation in Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia.
Védís Mist Eyju- og Agnadóttir
Bachelors Student
Védís joined our group in January of 2019 to work on her BS thesis in molecular biology, on the role of transcription factors driving germline gene expression in the early embryo.
Group Alumni
Sunna Bragadóttir B.Sc.
Computational Biologist
Sunna joined our group as a computational biologist in the spring of 2019. She specializes in the analyses of high throughput sequencing data from genome wide transcriptome profiling and binding experiments. She holds a BS degree in biology from the University of Iceland and is currently studying for her master’s degree in applied statistics.
Kimberley Anderson Ph.D.
Kimberley completed her B.Sc. honorurs year at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia in 2013. During her undergraduate studies she investigated the use of small molecule inhibitors of epigenetic regluators in acute myeloid leukemic stem cells. She joined the laboratory of Eiríkur Steingrímsson at the BioMedical Center in early 2014 to study transcription factor interactions in melanoma, after which she embarked on her doctoral studies in our lab in the fall of 2014. Kimberley defended her thesis on “Mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia and multiple myeloma” in June of 2019.
Árný Björg Ósvaldsdóttir M.Sc.
Árný finished her BS degree in Biomedical Science in the spring of 2016 and joined our group in January 2017 to pursue her Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences working on the transcriptional control of Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. She defended her thesis in the spring of 2018 and took on the role as the group’s laboratory manager until the fall of 2019
Árni Ásbjarnarson M.Sc.
Árni finished his BS degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Iceland, after which he joined the group of Guðmundur Hrafn Guðmundsson for his MS project to study defenses against microbial peptides in lung epithelia. He defended his MS project in Biology in 2017. He joined our group in the fall of 2018 until the end of 2019 as a laboratory research associate.
Salomon Christer B.Sc.
Salómon joined our group in January of 2019 to work on his BS thesis in molecular biology, on the role of transcription factors mediating mouse embryonic stem cell pluripotency dynamics and continued throughout the summer of 2019 studying transcription factors governing germline fate as a part of an Icelandic Student Innovation fund award.
Peppi Kauppinen
Peppi joined our group in the spring of 2019 as an exchange student from Tampere University of Applied Science as a part of her BS studies. Her project involved investigating the tanscriptional effects of cell cycle dynamics in multiple myeloma cells.
Guðrún Karlsdóttir B.Sc.
Guðrún started her medical studies at the University of Iceland in 2016 and joined our group in the summer of 2018 investigating polycomb factor proteins in Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. She then completed her B.S. project in our group on BLIMP1 survival mechanisms in WM in the spring of 2019.
Daisy Akinyi Awiti M.Sc.
Daisy completed her B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya in 2014 and completed her Masters degree in Biochemistry from the University of Bordeaux in the summer of 2017. During her master's studies she worked on splicing factors in C.elegans using both biochemical as well as genetic approaches.
Daisy studied cell fate commitment of mouse embryonic stem cells in our laboratory.
Birgit Atzinger B.Sc.
Birgit completed her BS project in Molecular Biotechnology in our laboratory as an Erasmus exchange student from FH Campus Wien - The University of Applied sciences in Vienna during the spring semester of 2017. Her work involved a study of the effects of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia chemotherapy drugs on transcription factor expression.
Kristján Hólm Grétarsson M.Sc.
Kristján received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Iceland in 2014. His undergraduate thesis centered on the role of the transcriptional regulator Mitf in melanoma, which he did with Eiríkur Steingrímsson. After his graduation he joined our lab to study the impact of cis-regulatory sequences and their long range interactions on transcriptional control in Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. He finished his Master's degree in the spring of 2016 and is now pursuing his Ph.D. at the EMBL in Monterotondo.
Aðalheiður Elín Lárusdóttir B.Sc.
Aðalheiður embarked on her medical studies at the University of Iceland in 2013. She spent the two summers studying the role of the transcriptional repressor Blimp1 in multiple myeloma in our lab. Aðalheiður finished her Bachelor's degree thesis on the role of Blimp1 in Waldenström's macroglobulinemia in the spring of 2016.