Position: Professor
Email: eirikurs@hi.is; Tel: +354-525-4270
Background: Eirikur obtained a BS degree in biology from the University of Iceland in 1985. He received his PhD degree from the Department of Biology at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1992, where he studied Drosophila development. After leaving UCLA, he studied mouse genetics as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Drs. Nancy A. Jenkins and Neal G. Copeland at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD. Since 1997 he has been a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Iceland. Eirikur is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, EMBO.
Research: Steingrimsson’s research focuses on the genetic and molecular analysis of the regulatory protein MITF which is necessary for the development of several different cell types, including the pigment-producing melanocytes. It also plays a key role in melanoma. In melanocytes, MITF is important for the regulation of cell-specific gene expression and may serve as a master regulator of melanocyte development where it regulates the expression of genes involved in various different processes, including differentiation, cell-cycle and survival. In melanoma, it acts as a lineage survival oncogene promoting cell proliferation. Clearly, the activity of Mitf needs to be regulated in order to mediate all these different effects and indeed, it has been shown that multiple signaling pathways affect MITF function. The aim of the laboratory is
to understand how the MITF protein functions in the organism and how it is
regulated by various different signalling pathways.
The Steingrimson group: