Eva Hellström Lindberg group – Myelodysplastic syndromes
My research program aims at understanding disease mechanisms in MDS and to improve outcome of MDS patients and is closely linked to the MDS Clinic at the Department of Hematology, Karolinska University Hospital. The MDS research group consists of clinical scientists, cell and molecular biologists, technicians and a research nurse who together address clinically relevant scientific problems. Research students encompass both junior hematologists and young preclinical scientists.

About our research
Integrated genomics analyses
We have established a well-annotated biobank of >1200 consecutive patients with MDS and related disorders from KI and from the national MDS biobank, the latter headed by Martin Jädersten. We apply integrated genomics; targeted sequencing, whole genome sequencing, and RNA sequencing in order to explore germline and acquired mechanisms underlying MDS development and disease progression. We are quite far in the process of developing precision medicine for MDS.
MDS with ring sideroblasts (MDS-RS)
Biological studies using advanced stem cell and erythroid models as well as single cell techniques explore disease initiation, clonal competition, erythroid failure and potential therapeutic targets in MDS with ring sideroblasts (MDS-RS). Focus lies on MDS with progressive anemia carrying mutations in the splice factor gene SF3B1.
Clinical trials
Clinical trials within the Nordic MDS Group encompass the NMDSG14B pan-Nordic trial (co-chaired with Magnus Tobiasson) aiming to develop and implement personalized MRD markers for patients undergoing stem cell transplantation with the goal to prevent clinical relapse.
Our work is supported by a large scientific network of international colleges.
Group leader
Eva Hellström Lindberg
Professor/senior physicianEva Hellström Lindberg is a double specialist in hematology and internal medicine since 1993, and Professor of hematology at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge since 2009. She has worked within the translational research field for many years and been actively involved in strategic research questions.
Eva has been president for European Association of Hematology as well as for Swedish Society of Hematology and is a member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet.
Group members
Sara Von Bahr Grebäck
Project coordinatorSara von Bahr Grebäck is PA for Professor Eva Hellström Lindberg and Research secretary and Project Coordinator in the Hellström Lindberg group.
Sara has a MSc in Molecular Biology from Stockholm University and a PhD in Medical Biochemistry from Karolinska Institutet, Department of Laboratory Medicine (Ingemar Björkhem group).
Teresa Mortera Blanco
PhD, Senior research specialistIndira Barbosa
Biomedical scientistIndira Barbosa currently works as Research Laboratory Technician for Eva Hellström Lindberg group and she is responsible for biobanking CHIP samples in Sten Eirik Jacobsen group.
Indira has BSc in Biomedical Science and MSc in Hematology and Blood Transfusion from Westminister University. She has 12 years' experience in both children and adult clinical laboratory in Great Britain.
Ann-Charlotte Björklund
Biomedical scientistAnne-Charlotte Björklund is a biomedical scientist, NOVIA University of applied sciences, Vasa, Finland. The education provides international qualifications at the Bachelor level within the EU.
I am involved in advanced biobanking of primary blood and bone marrow cells as well in studies of cellular and molecular mechanisms of normal and malignant hematopoiesis with a special focus on myelodysplastic syndromes. I joined Hellström-Lindberg group in 2018.
Gunilla Walldin
Research and biobank nursePhD Students
Maria Creignou
PhD studentAnna Tranberg
PhD studentPostdocs
Gabriele Todisco is a Medical Doctor specialist in Hematology and Internal Medicine.
He has been working on translational research projects in MDS since 2018, focusing on incorporating detailed molecular information from DNAseq and RNAseq into clinical practice aiming to improve classification and prognostication of MDS.
Research assistants
Associated clinical scientist
Martin Jädersten
MD, PhD, Senior post docResearch support
- Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
- The Swedish Cancer Society
- The Scientific Research Council
- Stockholm County Council Research funds
- Cancer Society in Stockholm
Selected publications*
*co-authoring other PIs at HERM
Link to all publications at PubMed
- Implications of TP53 allelic state for genome stability, clinical presentation and outcomes in myelodysplastic syndromes
Bernard E, Nannya Y, Hasserjian RP, Devlin SM, Tuechler H, Medina-Martinez JS, Yoshizato T, Shiozawa Y, Saiki R, Malcovati L, Levine MF, Arango JE, Zhou Y, Solé F, Cargo CA, Haase D, Creignou M, Germing U, Zhang Y, Gundem G, Sarian A, van de Loosdrecht AA, Jädersten M, Tobiasson M, Kosmider O, Follo MY, Thol F, Pinheiro RF, Santini V, Kotsianidis I, Boultwood J, Santos FPS, Schanz J, Kasahara S, Ishikawa T, Tsurumi H, Takaori-Kondo A, Kiguchi T, Polprasert C, Bennett JM, Klimek VM, Savona MR, Belickova M, Ganster C, Palomo L, Sanz G, Ades L, Della Porta MG, Smith AG, Werner Y, Patel M, Viale A, Vanness K, Neuberg DS, Stevenson KE, Menghrajani K, Bolton KL, Fenaux P, Pellagatti A, Platzbecker U, Heuser M, Valent P, Chiba S, Miyazaki Y, Finelli C, Voso MT, Shih LY, Fontenay M, Jansen JH, Cervera J, Atsuta Y, Gattermann N, Ebert BL, Bejar R, Greenberg PL, Cazzola M, Hellström-Lindberg E, Ogawa S, Papaemmanuil E. Nat Med. 2020 Oct;26(10):1549-1556.
- SF3B1-mutant myelodysplastic syndrome as a distinct disease subtype - A Proposal of the International Working Group for the Prognosis of Myelodysplastic Syndromes (IWG-PM)
Malcovati L, Stevenson K, Papaemmanuil E, Neuberg D, Bejar R, Boultwood J, Bowen DT, Campbell PJ, Ebert BL, Fenaux P, Haferlach T, Heuser M, Jansen JH, Komrokji RS, Maciejewski JP, Walter MJ, Fontenay M, Garcia-Manero G, Graubert TA, Karsan A, Meggendorfer M, Pellagatti A, Sallman DA, Savona MR, Sekeres M, Steensma DP, Tauro S, Thol F, Vyas P, Van de Loosdrecht AA, Haase DT, Tuechler H, Greenberg PL, Ogawa S, Hellström-Lindberg E, Cazzola M. Blood. 2020 Jul 9;136(2):157-170.
- A three-dimensional in vitro model of erythropoiesis recapitulates erythroid failure in myelodysplastic syndromes.
Elvarsdottir EM, Mortera-BlancoT, Dimitriou M, Bouderlique T, Jansson M, Hofman IJF, Conte S, Karimi Arzenani M, Sander B, Douagi I, Woll P and Hellström-Lindberg E. Leukemia. 2020 Jan;34(1):271-282.
- Male sex and the pattern of recurrent myeloid mutations are strong independent predictors of blood transfusion intensity in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes
Rydén J, Edgren G, Karimi M, Walldin G, Tobiasson M, Wikman A, Hellström-Lindberg E, Höglund P. Leukemia 2019 02;33(2):522-527
- SF3B1 mutations in myelodysplastic syndromes with ring sideroblasts arise in multipotent hematopoietic stem cells
Mortera-Blanco T, Dimitriou M, Woll PS, Karimi M. Elvarsdottir E, Conte S. Tobiasson M, Jansson M, Douagi I, Moari M, Saft L, Papaemmanuil E, Jacobsen, SEW. Hellström-Lindberg E. Blood. 2017 Aug 17;130(7):881-890.
- Comprehensive mapping of the effects of azacitidine on DNA methylation, repressive/permissive histone marks and gene expression in primary cells from patients with MDS and MDS-related disease.
Tobiasson M, Abdulkadir H, Lennartsson A, Katayama S, Marabita F, De Paepe A, Karimi M, Krjutskov K, Einarsdottir E, Grövdal M, Jansson M, Ben Azenkoud A, Corddedu L, Lehmann S, Ekwall K, Kere J, Hellström-Lindberg E, Ungerstedt J. Oncotarget 2017 Apr;8(17):28812-28825
- Progression in patients with low- and intermediate-1-risk del(5q) myelodysplastic syndromes is predicted by a limited subset of mutations.
Scharenberg C, Giai V, Pellagatti A, Saft L, Dimitriou M, Jansson M, Jädersten M, Grandien A, Douagi I, Neuberg DS, LeBlanc K, Boultwood J, Karimi M, Jacobsen SE, Woll PS, Hellström-Lindberg E. Haematologica 2017 03;102(3):498-508
- Myelodysplastic syndromes are propagated by rare and distinct human cancer stem cells in vivo
Woll PS, Kjällquist U, Chowdhury O, Doolittle H, Wedge DC, Thongjuea S, Erlandsson R, Ngara M, Anderson K, Deng Q, Mead AJ, Stenson L, Giustacchini A, Duarte S, Giannoulatou E, Taylor S, Karimi M, Scharenberg C, Mortera-Blanco T, Macaulay IC, Clark SA, Dybedal I, Josefsen D, Fenaux P, Hokland P, Holm MS, Cazzola M, Malcovati L, Tauro S, Bowen D, Boultwood J, Pellagatti A, Pimanda JE, Unnikrishnan A, Vyas P, Göhring G, Schlegelberger B, Tobiasson M, Kvalheim G, Constantinescu SN, Nerlov C, Nilsson L, Campbell PJ, Sandberg R, Papaemmanuil E, Hellström-Lindberg E, Linnarsson S, Jacobsen SE. Cancer Cell 2014 Jun;25(6):794-808
- Somatic SF3B1 mutation in myelodysplasia with ring sideroblasts
Papaemmanuil E, Cazzola M, Boultwood J, Malcovati L, Vyas P, Bowen D, Pellagatti A, Wainscoat JS, Hellstrom-Lindberg E, Gambacorti-Passerini C, Godfrey AL, Rapado I, Cvejic A, Rance R, McGee C, Ellis P, Mudie LJ, Stephens PJ, McLaren S, Massie CE, Tarpey PS, Varela I, Nik-Zainal S, Davies HR, Shlien A, Jones D, Raine K, Hinton J, Butler AP, Teague JW, Baxter EJ, Score J, Galli A, Della Porta MG, Travaglino E, Groves M, Tauro S, Munshi NC, Anderson KC, El-Naggar A, Fischer A, Mustonen V, Warren AJ, Cross NC, Green AR, Futreal PA, Stratton MR, Campbell PJ. N Engl J Med 2011 Oct;365(15):1384-95
- TP53 mutations in low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes with del(5q) predict disease progressionJädersten M, Saft L, Smith A, Kulasekararaj A, Pomplun S, Göhring G, Hedlund A, Hast R, Schlegelberger B, Porwit A, Hellström-Lindberg E, Mufti GJ. J Clin Oncol 2011 May;29(15):1971-79