Harald Stenmark - Biography#

Stenmark´s main contributions concern our understanding of how molecular mechanisms that control the dynamics of cellular membranes can be dysregulated and cause cancer progression. He identified the conserved FYVE zinc finger domain, which is present in 30 different human proteins, and showed that this domain binds specifically to the lipid, phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P). Stenmark has characterized a number of FYVE domain-containing proteins and identified their functions in cellular membrane dynamics, including endocytosis and lysosomal degradation of growth factor receptors, macropinocytosis of nutrients, and autophagy of protein aggregates and damaged mitochondria. In addition, he has characterized the functions of Rab GTPases and ESCRT proteins in cellular membrane dynamics and shown their relevance for genome integrity, cell migration and invasion, and cancer progression.

Stenmark has published some 300 articles cited on PubMed. His publications have been cited over 34,000 times (self-citations excluded), and his H-index is 101 (ISI Web of Science, March 2024). He has been invited more than 90 times as speaker at international research conferences, including 23 times as keynote lecturer.