Agnete Kirkeby is a leading neuroscientist specializing in stem cell-based approaches to treat neurodegenerative diseases. With a strong focus on generating specific subtypes of human neurons, her groundbreaking work bridges the gap between basic neuroscience and translational medicine. Kirkeby's research aims to develop innovative therapies for conditions like Parkinson's disease, combining cutting-edge cell transplantation techniques with advanced drug discovery platforms. She is recognized for her contributions to regenerative medicine and her commitment to improving patient outcomes through pioneering science. The Kirkeby Lab studies the factors involved in human neural subtype specification in order to enable production of specific neurons for understanding and treating neurological diseases.
Agnete is a principal investigator affiliated with Lund University, including the Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine and the Lund Stem Cell Center. Her work also extends to the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW) at the University of Copenhagen, where she moved in 2022. At reNEW, her focus continues to involve advancing human pluripotent stem cell research for neural cell generation and clinical applications.
| Hej Agnete,
To start, how would you describe your research focus and its potential impact on the medical field?
“Our research focuses on the generation of very specific and highly specialised subtypes of human neurons from stem cells so we can use these both for transplantation therapy for neurodegenerative diseases as well as for testing and developing novel drug therapies in the lab.”
| What first sparked your interest in this field, and how has your career evolved since?
“I was so fortunate to learn pluripotent stem cell technologies early in my career through a 1.5 year research exchange stay in the lab of Lorenz Studer during my PhD. This sparked my interest in stem cell biology, and when returning from New York, I was lucky to be able to continue my passion in the lab of Malin Parmar in Lund. This sparked a long-standing collaboration and resulted in our joint development of a stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease.”
| What do you see as the biggest challenge currently facing your field?
“Treatments for neurodegenerative diseases have not evolved much in the past 50 years. For Alzheimer’s Disease, the main first-line treatment is still acetylcholine esterase inhibitors which were introduced 27 years ago, and for Parkinson’s Disease the main first-line treatment is still L-DOPA which was introduced more than 50 years ago. A major underlying reason for the slow developments have been a dependency on poor and non-representative animal models for drug development. Despite many potential novel treatments being tested in clinical trials, the majority of these fail due to lack of efficacy in humans. The use of novel and more sophisticated human stem cell-based neural models may bridge this gap in drug development.”
| What accomplishment in your research are you most proud of?
“I am proud that we did not give up in developing a stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease despite many challenges along the way. That we actually succeeded in taking our research all the way from the first experiments in the lab to the development of a clinical-grade stem cell therapy which is currently being tested in Parkinson’s disease patients in Lund.”
| Your research is very translational and involves human trials that sparked a lot of interest. Can you share us some interesting insights?
“Our clinical trial is still ongoing, and we can therefore not yet share any data on the patients. For those who are curious it may however be interesting to watch a video where one of our patients tells his own story on participating in the trial. Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised by the successful progress of our trial – patients have been transplanted on time and as planned despite many things needing to come together at each day of transplantation.”
| You recently moved to Copenhagen and are now leading your research at the Copenhagen University. Could you tell us more about the reasons and the differences when you compare it to working in Lund?
“I now have a research team at the Novo Nordisk Foundation for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW at University of Copenhagen. This is a smaller environment than the WCMM and the Lund Stem Cell Center, but it provides excellent core facilities and shared lab space together with a yearly support package for research. I’m in a very fortunate situation where I can benefit from both the good infrastructure in Copenhagen and from the very good collaborations and network I have in Lund.”
| Do you collaborate with other WCMM Fellows or researchers, either in Lund or at other centres? How have these partnerships enhanced your work?
“I continue to collaborate very closely with Malin Parmar and with WCMM fellow Gesine Paul on our clinical trial in Parkinson’s Disease (STEM-PD). I also have a close collaboration with Johan Jakobsson from the Stem Cell Center on neural development, neurodegenerative disease and transposable elements. Since the stem cell environment is much smaller in Copenhagen than in Lund, I benefit greatly from my continuous interactions and collaborations with stem cell groups in Lund.”
| Do you want to use the chance and send a message to the WCMM Lund?
“Keep up the good work and the lovely family spirit in the center!"
We wish Agnete, her research team, and all her collaborators continued success as they advance the boundaries of stem cell research and neurodegenerative disease therapies. We eagerly await the innovations they will bring to the field.
Thank you for joining us in this month's WCMM Fireside Chat!