Amsterdam, NL – We are pleased to introduce the senior editors of our new open access publication.

Agenete Kirkeby, PhD is the Senior Editor of StemJournal responsible for overseeing submitted papers that focus on the basic science of stem cells. Her own research has been founded on applying human pluripotent stem cells to generate subtype-specific neural cells for developmental studies and regenerative therapy.

Associate Professor Agnete Kirkeby is a group leader of the group Human Neural Development at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem) at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and is also affiliated to Lund University, Sweden. Her group at DanStem applies advanced microfluidic stem cell models and high throughput single cell RNA sequencing to study human neural lineage trajectories. Part of this work also involves developing accurate protocols for generating regionalized and subtype-specific human neurons from pluripotent stem cells.

With a PhD in neuroscience from University of Copenhagen, Agnete started to work with stem cells as a guest researcher in the group of Prof. Lorenz Studer (Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, USA). Inspired by this, she went on to perform her postdoctoral studies in the group of Malin Parmar (Lund University, Sweden), and has since built up a unique expertise in using human pluripotent stem cells for production of subtype-specific neural cells. Agnete has been involved for many years in the development of a clinical pluripotent-derived stem cell product for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, and she and her colleagues are approaching first-in-human clinical trials, aimed to start in 2020. She explains about her research: “Being part of a translational stem cell project inspires me immensely. The prospect of developing cells which may soon relieve patients of their symptoms is a huge driving force to me.”

We are very pleased to welcome Agnete as she joins StemJournal as Senior Editor. Of this new role, she comments: “I’m looking forward to participating in the birth of a new and dedicated stem cell journal, as I think the field needs more versatile publication options in the stem cell field. I look forward to contributing to the journal in the fields of stem cell differentiation, neural stem cells and regenerative neurobiology.”