Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB)

Roopesh Anand Joan Barau Petra Beli Claudia Keller Valsecchi René Ketting Anton Khmelinskii Julian König Nard Kubben Katja Luck Christof Niehrs Jan Padeken Stamatis Papathanasiou Katharina Papsdorf Sandra Schick Helle Ulrich Siyao Wang Sina Wittmann

Biology of ageing & ageing-related diseases

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) is an extremely rare premature ageing disease in which patients age six times faster than normal. The disease is caused by a mutation in the lamin A gene, which causes an aberrantly spliced form of lamin A called progerin to be produced. In my lab, we study ageing by inducing progerin expression in a genetically engineered cell system and then using high-throughput imaging and genome-wide screening technologies to investigate the molecular mechanisms that drive cellular ageing. We are interested in understanding how progerin disrupts proteostasis in the cell, as well as identifying new anti-ageing pathways that can be used to treat disease.

Research website

Positions held

Since 2021: Group Leader, Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Mainz
2015 ‐ 2019: NIH Research Fellow, National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA
2011 ‐ 2015: NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA

Education

2004 ‐ 2010: PhD in Molecular Biology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
2001 ‐ 2004: MSc in Biological Health Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
2000 ‐ 2001: BS in Health Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

Selected publications by Nard Kubben

Kreienkamp R*, Graziano S*, Coll-Bonfill N*, Bedia-Diaz G, Cybulla E, Vindigni A, Dorsett D, Kubben N, Batista LFZ and Gonzalo S (2018) A cell-intrinsic interferon-like response links replication stress to cellular aging caused by progerin. Cell Rep, 22:2006–2015 (*indicates joint contribution) Link

Kubben N and Misteli T (2017) Shared molecular and cellular mechanisms of premature ageing and ageing-associated diseases. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, 18:595–609 Link

Kubben N, Zhang W, Wang L, Voss TC, Yang J, Qu J, Liu GH^# and Misteli T^# (2016) Repression of the antioxidant NRF2 pathway in premature aging. Cell, 165:1361–1374 (^#indicates joint correspondence) Link

Kubben N, Brimacombe KR, Donegan M, Li Z and Misteli T (2016) A high-content imaging-based screening pipeline for the systematic identification of anti-progeroid compounds. Methods, 96:46–58 Link

Vidak S, Kubben N, Dechat T^# and Foisner R^# (2015) Proliferation of progeria cells is enhanced by lamina-associated polypeptide 2α (LAP2α) through expression of extracellular matrix proteins. Genes Dev, 29:2022–2036 (^#indicates joint correspondence) Link

Pegoraro G, Kubben N, Wickert U, Göhler H, Hoffmann K and Misteli T (2009) Ageing-related chromatin defects through loss of the NURD complex. Nat Cell Biol, 11:1261–1267 Link