S.E. (Els) Mansell, PhD

The overarching research aim of the Mansell lab is to test the notion that mitochondrial metabolism might be a promising druggable driver of hematopoietic stem cell fate in ageing and disease. We aim to research how mitochondrial activity relates to stem cell function in the context of murine and human ageing, during cancer initiation, upon chemotherapy treatment and for the purpose of stem cell transplantation practices.

If this sounds interesting to you, the Mansell lab encourages people from all backgrounds and career stages to get in touch about employment or internship opportunities.

After studying Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Bristol (UK, 2009-2012), I obtained a PhD from the University of Bristol studying in utero origins of childhood leukaemia (2017). Afterwards, I moved to Sweden to work as a postdoctoral researcher at Lund University (2017-2022). Here, I worked for Tariq Enver (director of UCL Cancer Institute, UK) whilst being informally embedded within the laboratory of Jonas Larsson (Lund Stem Cell Center). During my time in Lund, I studied Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC) biology to understand how hematopoiesis is regulated at steady state, during stress and upon ageing. I made important contributions to our understanding of how mitochondrial activity reflects age-related performance of murine HSCs (Mansell et al, Cell Stem Cell 2021).

Towards the end of my postdoc, Il was awarded independent start-up grants from the European Hematology Association (EHA, 2021) and the Swedish Research Council (VR, 2022). In April 2023, I started as tenure track group leader at the Erasmus MC Department of Hematology. I retain a part-time position at Lund University fostering close collaboration. Recently I was awarded a Young Investigator Grant by the Dutch Cancer Foundation (KWF YIG, 2023) to test if mitochondrial metabolism of HSCs can be targeted to alleviate age-associated cancer risk and improve therapy outcomes.

Here you can find my publications. 

Elected member:

2022- current: International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH) New Investigator Committee (NIC).
2022-2023: Lund Stem Cell Center DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) committee.

Active memberships

2013- current: International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH)
2019- current: American Society for Hematology (ASH)
2020- current: European Hematology Association (EHA)

Personal Grants:

2023-2028: KWF Young Investigator Grant (Bas Mulder Award). Project number: KWF #15215

2023-2026: Swedish Research Council Starting Grant. Project number: VR #2022-01476

2022-2025: European Hematology Association Junrion Research Grant 2021. Project: Uncovering and Exploiting the Metabolic Basis for HSC Fate Availability