About us - Reproductive endocrinology and metabolism
Our group’s research activities aim to yield new key information on the pathophysiology of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common female endocrine and metabolic disorder.

Our research aims to gain deeper understanding of the heritability of PCOS and associated comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes and mental-health disorders across generations by dissecting the molecular, mechanistic, and causal links, and to determine whether men can also transmit the disease. We use different PCOS-like mice models to delineate the main trigger of PCOS and define whether germ cells drive the transmission of the syndrome in the absence of PCOS-associated gene variants. Moreover, we translate our findings in mice to the clinical situation and perform detailed phenotyping of women with and without PCOS and collect serum/blood and endometrium, fat and skeletal muscle tissue biopsies and investigate the effect of different treatments.
Group members


Elisabet Stener-Victorin
Research group leaderI completed my PhD in the field of reproductive endocrinology at the University of Gothenburg (GU). This was followed by postdoctoral studies in Japan followed by research position at GU funded by Swedish Research Council (VR). 2015 I was recruited to the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at KI and I moved with my research group. I am PI for the Reproductive Endocrinology and Metabolism (REM)-group and our research focus on dissecting genetic versus epigenetic heritability in the transmission of PCOS and associated comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes, endometrial dysfunctions, and mental-health disorders across generations by dissecting the molecular, mechanistic, and causal links, and to determine whether men can also transmit the disease. Recently we also start to investigate the role of the immune system in the pathology of PCOS.
Location: Biomedicum B0552

Sara Torstensson
PhD studentI have a Master of Science in Biomedicine and the overarching objective of my PhD project is to determine the role of the immune system in the pathology of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Using various in vivo models, I aim to characterize the immune profile and study the underlying mechanisms as well as the risk of transgenerational transmission.
Location: Biomedicum B0551

Haojiang Lu
PhD studentI have a Master of Science in Biomedicine and in my PhD I am studying the transgenerational inheritance of PCOS-like phenotypes in both male and female offspring; and trying to dissect possible mechanisms of such transmission. Mouse models are important part of my project, while in vitro experiments and sequencing techniques are also applied with the help of specialists.
Location: Biomedicum B0553

Gustaw Eriksson
PhD studentI have a Master of Science in Bioinformatics at Lund University, and I start my PhD studies in the Reproductive Endocrinology and Metabolism (REM) group during the fall 2021. My main objective is to generate and analyze single cell sequencing data from tissue biopsies from women with and without PCOS. Moreover, we have recently established endometrial organoids to unravel underlying mechanisms.
Location: Biomedicum B0553

Congru Li
PhD, PostdocI completed my PhD of Genetics at Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. My research interest focusing on the epigenetic mechanisms of female reproductive diseases including embryo development and offspring health. I have experience and expertise in epigenetic and transcriptomic single cell and bulk sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. I am involved in single cell RNA sequencing and DNA methylation of tissue biopsies from women with and without PCOS.
Location: Biomedicum B0553

Angelo Ascani
Visiting PhD student from Graz UniversityI am a visiting PhD student from the Medical University of Graz (Austria) through an EMBO fellowship award. I am studying the underlying interactions between B cell hypermutations and the hyperandrogenic hormonal milieu in PCOS, utilizing both human case-control exploratory studies as well as antibody and B cell extraction and transfer methods into different mouse models.
Location: Biomedicum B0551

Sanjiv Risal
PhD and Staff ScientistI am research specialist in reproductive endocrinology and germ cell biology at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. I am keen to apply my knowledge in female reproductive endocrinology, cell and molecular biology, embryo and oocytes manipulation, reproductive and metabolic phenotyping, cell and organ cultures, and animal models gathered along with more than ten years of academic training/research. I have worked extensively in translational medical research, mainly focusing on premature ovarian failure and PCOS.
Location: Biomedicum B0553

Eva Lindgren
MSc, Research EngineerI have a bachelor’s degree in biomedical laboratory science and started to work at KI 1980. Since 2016 I am working as Lab manager in the REM group. I have many administrative tasks in the group, and contributing to many of the research project, specifically the human cell culture projects.
Location: Biomedicum B0551
Former group members
Elizabet Jedel – PhD
Julia Johannson – PhD
Lisa Lindheim – PhD Candidate, Medical University of Graz, Austria
Louise Mannerås Holm – PhD
Luigi Manni – PhD
Min Hu – Postdoc
Milana Kokosar – PhD student
Maria Manti – PhD
Rodrigo Marcondes – PhD student
Romina Fornes – Postdoc
Yang Qian – PhD
Zhiyi Zhang, PhD, visiting researcher from Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Jinan, China
Group members outside Karolinska Institutet
Anna Benrick – MSc, PhD, Researcher, Gothenburg University, Sweden
Emma A. Nilsson – Researcher, PhD, Lund University
Josefin Katakoa – Doctoral student, Gothenburg University, Sweden
Manuel Maliqueo – PhD, University of Chile, Santiago
Research support
- Swedish Research Council (VR)
- Novo Nordisk Foundation
- Strategick Research Program of Diabetes (SRP Diabetes)
- Karolinska Institutet
- ALF 2015-2017
Collaborations
National collaborators
- Associate Professor Qiaolin Deng, Karolinska Institutet
- Professor Angelica Lindén Hirschberg, Karolinska Institutet
- Professor Camilla Svensson, Karolinska Institutet
- Assistant Professor Xia Jiang, Karolinska Institutet
- Assistant Professor Carolina Hagberg, Karolinska Institutet
- Associate Professor Carolyn Cesta, Karolinska Institutet
- Associate Professor Mina Rosenqvist, Karolinska Institutet
- Professor Charlotte Ling, Lund University
- Professor Inger Sundström-Pooroma, Uppsala University
- Professor Claes Ohlsson, University of Gothenburg
International collaborators
- Professor Richard Legro, Pennsylvania State University, US
- Professor Andrea Dunaif, Icahn School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Health System, US
- Professor Thomas Jansson, University of Colorado Denver, US
- Professor Helena Teede, Monash University, Australia
- Professor Adam Balen, Leeds University Hospital, UK
- Professor Jie Qiao, Peking University Third Hospital, China
- Professor Matti Poutanen, Turku University, Finland
- Nordic PCOS Network: Dorte Glintborg and Marianne Andersen, Odense University, DK; Eszter Vanky, NTNU Trondheim, Norway; Terhi Piltonen and Laure Morin Papunen, University of Oulu, Finland; Juha Tapanainen, University of Helsinki