CV: Helga graduated with a medical degree from the University of Iceland in 1975 and PhD in immunology from the University of Edinburgh in 1979. Following two further years in Edinburgh as a lecturer in virology and immunolgy she moved back to Iceland, first to the Department of Virology. In 1987 she was appointed by the Icelandic Cancer Society to establish a new laboratory, The Molecular and Cell Biology Research Laboratory. The laboratory was linked to the Faculty of Medicine from the beginning through teaching of medical students and supervision of research projects. Helga became a professor of cell biology in 2001. The laboratory is now part of the Faculty of Medicine (since 2007). Helga also chairs the Committee for Post-Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Medicine. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) 1998-2008, as Secretary 1998-2004.

Research: Helga has been involved in a variety of different research projects. These include studies on various aspects of the cell biology of breast cancer, including cytogenetics of breast cancer. Also molecular changes in mucosal lesions in the mouth and oral cancer. Furthermore, projects linking the study of immunology and malignancy, studying the genetic and biological basis of B-cell-derived malignancies. In a long-standing collaboration with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences the effects of lichen-derived compounds on cancer cells have been investigated. Biobank-based research on cancer causes in international collaborations. Finally, a small project on the effect of loss of the thymus during cardiac surgery in infancy on T-cell function.

Homepage (in Icelandic): Cancer Research Laboratory

Publications: PubMed

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