Immuno-Epigenetics

• Group leader (since 2019 W2 Professor) at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) and the German Rheumatism Research Centre (DRFZ), Berlin, Germany
  Focus on Immuno-Epigenetics
• 2012 – 2017 Project leader at the German Rheumatism Research Centre (DRFZ), Berlin, Germany, together with Prof. Dr. Alf Hamann, Project: ‘Epigenetics in chronically activated T cells’ as part of the ‘German Epigenome Programme – DEEP’
• 2010 – 2012 Postdoc at the Leibniz-Center for Medicine and Biosciences, Borstel, Germany Laboratory: Prof. Dr. Dr. Silvia Bulfone-Paus (Immunobiology)
  Project: ‘Mast cells and IL-15 as immune-modulators’
• 2006 – 2010 PhD student and Postdoc at Charité Universitätsmedizin, Humboldt-University in Berlin, and at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany, Laboratory: Prof. Dr. Jochen Huehn (Experimental Immunology)
  Project: ‘Epigenetic aspects in Foxp3 regulation’
• 2004 – 2005 Guest scientist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA Laboratory: Prof. Dr. Dr. Harald von Boehmer (Lymphocyte Biology)
  Project: ‘Analysis of Treg physiology and identification of FoxP3 target genes’

• 2006 – 2009 PhD student, Humboldt-University in Berlin, Germany
  Graduation (06.11.2009): Summa cum laude for ‘Epigenetic aspects in Foxp3 regulation’ Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jochen Hühn (Experimental Immunology)
• 2000 – 2005 Student at the University of Hamburg and University of Bremen, Germany
  Degree: Diploma in Biochemistry (grade: 1,0)

Boards

• Since 2019 Advisory Member of the BCRT steering comittee
• Since 2016 PI in the ‘Leibniz Science Campus for Chronic Inflammatory diseases’ in Berlin
• Since 2015 Associated faculty member at the Center of Infection Biology and Immunity (ZIBI), Berlin

Memberships

• ‘German Society for Immunology’ (DGfI), since 2006
• ‘German Society for Rheumatology’ (DGRh), since 2006

• 2017 BIH Excellence award, by the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH)
• 2015 Start-up prize of the ‘German Society for Rheumatology (DGRh)’
• 2015 – 2016 Mentee in the project ‘Mentoring for women researchers at Leibniz institutions’ of the Leibniz Association, Germany
• 2006 – 2009 Stipend of the International Max Planck Research School for Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Berlin, Germany
• 2005 Heinz-Dürr Fellowship (Carl-Zeiss-Foundation)
• 2004 – 2005 Stipend of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• 2003 – 2005 Stipend of the German National Academic Foundation (‘Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes’

• Horizon 2020 project ‘RESHAPE’
• Stiftung Charité recruitment grant
• ERC starting grant ‘EpiTune’
• Leibniz Collaborative Excellence Programme ‘EpImAge’
• DFG Sonderforschungsberich 1444: ‘Gezielte zelluläre Selbstorganisation zur Förderung der Knochenregeneration’
• DFG Projekt ‘Funktionelle Rolle von DNA-Methylierung in humanen regulatorischen T-Zellen’

1. Hochmann S, Ou K, Poupardin R, Mittermeir M, Textor M, Riminucci M, Ellinghaus A, Ali S, Jacobi D, Amedeo J, Elmiger J, Schäfer R, Schmidt-Bleek K, Duda GN, Polansky JK, Geissler S, Strunk D. The enhancer landscape predetermines the skeletal regeneration capacity of stromal cells. Science Transl. Med. [in press]
2. Ou K, Hamo D, Schulze A, Roemhild A, Kaiser D, Gasparoni G, Salhab A, Zarrinrad G, Amini L, Schlickeiser S, Streitz M, Walter J, Volk HD, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Reinke P and Polansky JK (2021). Strong Expansion of Human Regulatory T Cells for Adoptive Cell Therapy Results in Epigenetic Changes Which May Impact Their Survival and Function. Front. Cell Dev. Biol., 18 November 2021.
3. Kressler C, Gasparoni G, Nordström K, Hamo D, Salhab A, Dimitropoulos C, Tierling S, Reinke P, Volk HD, Walter J, Hamann A, Polansky JK (2021). Targeted De-Methylation of the FOXP3-TSDR Is Sufficient to Induce Physiological FOXP3 Expression but Not a Functional Treg Phenotype. Front Immunol. 2021 Jan 7;11:609891.
4. Salhab A, Nordström K, Gasparoni G, Kattler K, Ebert P, Ramirez F, Arrigoni L, Müller F, Polansky JK, Cadenas C, G Hengstler J, Lengauer T, Manke T; DEEP Consortium, Walter J. (2018). A comprehensive analysis of 195 DNA methylomes reveals shared and cell-specific features of partially methylated domains. Genome Biol. Sep 28;19(1):150.
5. Szilagyi BA, Triebus J, Kressler C, de Almeida M, Tierling S, Durek P, Mardahl M, Menning A, Engelbert D, Floess S, Huehn J, Syrbe U, Walter J, Polansky JK*, Hamann A* (2017). Gut memories don’t fade: Expression of the gut homing receptor integrin α4β7 is stably imprinted in CD4+ memory T cells by epigenetic modification of regulatory regions in the itga4 locus. *shared last authorship. Mucosal Immunology, 2017 Nov;10(6):1443-1454.
6. Durek P, Nordström K, Gasparoni G, Kressler C, de Almeida M, Salhab A, Bassler K, Ulas T, Xiong J, Glažar P, Klironomos F, Sinha A, Kinkley S, Yang X, Schmidt F, Dehghani Amirabad A, Behjati Ardakani F, Feuerbach L, Gorka O, Ebert P, Müller F, Li N, Frischbutter S, Schlickeiser S, Cendon C, Fröhler S, Felder B, Gasparoni N, Imbusch CD, Hutter B, Zipprich G, Tauchmann Y, Reinke S, Wassilew G, Hoffmann U, Arrigoni L, Richter AS, Sieverling L, Chang H-D, Syrbe U, Manke T, Kalus U, Eils J, Brors B, Ruland J, Lengauer T, Rajewsky N, Chen W, Schulz MH, Dong J, Sawitzki B, Chung H-R, Rosenstiel P, Schultze JL, Radbruch A, Walter J, Hamann A, Polansky JK. (2016) Epigenomic Profiling of Human CD4+ T Cells Supports a Linear Differentiation Model and Highlights Molecular Regulators of Memory Development. Immunity, 45, 1148-1161.
7. Polansky JK, Bahri R, Divivier M, Duitman EH, Vock C, Goyeneche-Patino DA, Orinska Z, Bulfone-Paus S. (2016) High dose CD11c-driven IL15 is sufficient to drive NK cell maturation and anti-tumor activity in a trans-presentation independent manner. Scientific Reports Jan 29;6:19699.

For a complete list of publications, please visit my  PubMed page.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Julia+K.+Polansky