Pauliina Elisabet Damdimopoulou

Pauliina Elisabet Damdimopoulou

Professor | Docent

Professor in reproductive biology leading research on chemical impacts on female fertility. Experienced supervisor, educator and scientific ambassador.

Telephone: +46852482877
Mobile phone: +46709390093
Visiting address: BioMedicum A4, Solnavägen 9, 17165 Solna
Postal address: K6 Kvinnors och barns hälsa, K6 NOGRH Damdimopoulou, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am a Professor of Reproductive Biology at the Department of Women's and Children's Health.

    With over 15 years of experience in endocrinology, reproductive biology and toxicology, I lead a research group at Karolinska Institutet that investigates the effects of chemicals on female fertility. My ambition is to generate evidence-based information on the risks of chemical exposures and pharmaceutical treatments to human ovaries and oocytes, and to thereby contribute to the development of a chemically safer society.

    I chair the EDC Working Group of the European Society of Endocrinology, and I serve as the Swedish Ambassador for the European Research Council since 2025.

    In addition, I teach and supervise students at various levels, participate in university administration, and engage in stakeholder activities.

    I have received multiple grants and honors for my research, have served as a scientific expert for national and international organizations, and I frequently present my work at international conferences.

Research

  • I'm interested in studying the impact of pharmaceuticals and environmental chemicals on fertility in women, with a special focus on the ovary.

    The work of my research group focuses on several aims:

    • We assess environmental exposures in women and study their associations with fertility.
    • We study the effects of gonadotoxic treatments, like chemotherapy, on ovaries.
    • We map the molecular and cellular composition of human ovaries across life.
    • We investigate how environmental and pharmaceutical exposures affect ovaries by using tissue culture models.
    • We develop new in vitro tools for predicting reproductive toxicity of chemicals.

Teaching

  • I'm a docent in endocrine physiology (2015, University of Turku, Finland) and toxicology (2021, Karolinska Institutet) with teaching experience in various MSc and PhD courses at different universities in Sweden and Finland.

    I have supervised over 20 undergraduate students and MSc thesis projects. I have also served as the main supervisor for five PhD students, guiding them to successful graduations. I have formal training in higher education pedagogy, leadership, and the supervision of doctoral students.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 September 2025 - 31 August 2030
    Chemical health risk assessment has failed to protect female fertility. Women are exposed to mixtures of synthetic chemicals linked to reduced ovarian function, lower embryo quality, and decreased fertility. Our previous FORMAS studies revealed new molecular targets in ovarian and endometrial cells exposed to chemicals in vitro, highlighting mechanisms related to metabolism, energy balance, and structural cellular biology, expanding the scope of reproductive toxicity beyond classical endocrine disruption. In HERTOX, we will develop these endpoints into high-throughput screening (HTS) assays using platforms originally designed for cancer drug testing. Human ovarian and endometrial cells will be cultured in 2D and 3D in 384-well formats, exposed to a customized library of up to 5 000 chemicals, and analyzed with multiplexed fluorescence imaging. Selected hits will undergo further testing for concentration-response properties, combinatorial toxicity, and validation through metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses. Structure-activity relationships will be analyzed, and the curated chemical library will be made available to researchers. Finally, selected exposures will be validated for their association with adverse outcomes in women using ovarian tissue cultures, a human stem cell-based embryo attachment model, and patient samples. HERTOX ambition is to deliver HTS systems predictive of reproductive toxicity in women.
  • Leveraging integrative structural biology discoveries to unravel key molecular interactions in fertilization and antibacterial defense
    Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    Motherhood holds a profound significance for many women, yet one in six couples encounters infertility. In vitro fertilization (IVF), the most common treatment, yields modest pregnancy rate. Moreover, 15% of all pregnancies are spontaneously miscarried. Embryo implantation and pregnancy progression rely on communication between genetically normal, euploid embryo and uterus, complemented by favorable microbiota. Even following the transfer of the tested euploid embryo, a maximum implantation rate of 50% is achieved, causing the need for multiple transfers. The fact that failed implantation and pregnancy loss are common, underscores the importance of hostile endometrial environment, impaired embryo-maternal communication, and dysbiotic uterine microbiota in poor fertility. PODIUM project adopts a holistic approach to unravel the interplay between endometrial, embryonic, and host microbiota factors underlying the etiology of implantation failure and pregnancy loss. We adopt systems biology approach, based on our expertise in conducting integrated multiomic and microbiota profiling of endometrium. This approach will be augmented by using our in vitro implantation models, including embryo-like blastoids and endometrial organoids, to delve into implantation mechanisms. Thus, PODIUM contributes to the clinical field, which is often neglected, and paves the way for enhanced diagnostic abilities and the development of personalized treatments for female poor reproductive outcome.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    Human fertility rates have declined below the population replacement rate in every EU member state, with the age of first-time mothers increasing to 30 years. Maternal age significantly impacts population growth because, biologically, women are the limiting factor in human reproduction. A fertile woman produces only around 400 mature oocytes in her lifetime, whereas a fertile man produces approximately 1,500 sperms per second. Oocytes are precious and rare cells that constitute the bottleneck of human reproduction. Despite the critical importance of healthy oocytes, our understanding of human ovaries remains poor. In this project, we aim to address this knowledge gap by detailed molecular and cellular mapping of human ovaries, where our preliminary studies have uncovered significant, previously unknown biology, including novel follicle types, growth factors and genetic variations. We aim to expand this work by utilizing the latest spatial omics methodologies to develop a comprehensive molecular map of human ovaries from birth to menopause. Furthermore, we will functionally characterize the newly discovered follicle types, analyze their roles in fertility, and develop new methods for assessing ovarian health in clinical settings. Declining fertility rates create not only a demographic crisis but also profound grief on an individual level. This project aims to generate the information desperately needed to better assess fertility and treat infertility in women.
  • European Research Council
    1 October 2024 - 30 September 2029
    Chemical health risk assessment has failed to safeguard fertility in women. Women and their oocytes are exposed to pervasive mixtures of human-made chemicals that correlate with reproductive ageing and infertility. Only 0.5% of the chemicals on the European market have been well characterized for health risks, and reproductive toxicity in women is typically not covered due to missing tools. The new European Growth Strategy aims at sustainable growth, zero-pollution and safe chemicals. While the need for increased chemical testing is tangible, there is a movement to phase out animal experiments. This creates a huge challenge to deliver on the vision of a safe and toxic-free environment. Here, I will develop new high-content assays for reproductive toxicity in women. SAFER is built on my exceptional ovary biobank, established stem cell lines, and multi-omics technologies. Using chemically exposed ovarian tissue and stem cell derived blastoid cultures, SAFER will map mechanisms mediating toxicity by high-resolution epigenetic and transcriptomic analyses. Model chemicals are chosen based on ubiquitous presence in women and significant associations to decreased ovarian function, as shown by my cohort studies. The identified mechanisms will be tailored into reporter genes that I will insert into new immortalized human ovarian cells as well as stem cells, and develop into high-content screening assays. The product of SAFER is novel in vitro tools for screening of female reproductive toxicants. Taken together, SAFER sets an example for animal-free derivation of assays for chemical safety assessment. SAFER tools will contribute to identification and restriction of chemicals that pose a hazard to women’s health. This is an important step in the global movement towards a non-toxic, safe environment. Starting a family is a basic human right, and whether to have a child or not should be decided by the prospective parents, not by the chemicals in their environment.
  • Barncancerfonden
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2026
    We are constantly exposed to a complex mixture of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and other chemicals with unknown effects on the reproductive system. EDCs have been suspected to impair fertility but it is impossible to test all substances individually and effects are likely to be additive or even synergistic. The oocyte is surrounded by follicular fluid that influences the potential of the oocyte to mature, become fertilized and develop into a new individual. In this project we will investigate in vitro oocyte maturation and early embryo development after the addition of a mixture extracted from in vivo collected follicular fluid from women undergoing fertility treatment (n=160). The aim is to use an effects-directed approach to identify harmful substances in follicular fluid. We will pool the follicular fluid according to poor or good embryo quality as recorded during fertility treatment. After extraction and concentration, it will be added to the medium during bovine oocyte maturation in vitro, a model well suited for comparisons with human in vitro fertilization procedures. Oocytes and embryos will be closely examined and the fraction found likely to disturb maturation or embryo development will be analysed using a non-target screening approach to reveal the fraction composition. By this top-bottom approach we hope to gain information that in time can be used for legislative purposes to reduce the harmful exposure.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2021 - 31 December 2023
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2021 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 December 2018 - 30 November 2024
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2018 - 31 December 2019
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2018 - 31 December 2021
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2016 - 31 December 2018
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2016 - 31 December 2018
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2015 - 31 December 2016
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2010 - 31 December 2010

Employments

  • Professor, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-
  • Senior Lecturer, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2025
  • Postdoctoral researcher, R&D, Watchfrog (France), 2008-2010

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2021

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