Klaus Hansen

Klaus Hansen is Associate Professor at the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC), University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Hansen did his Ph.D studies in signal transduction from receptor tyrosine kinases at the University of Uppsala in the laboratory of Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research). In 1996 Dr. Hansen joined the laboratory of Professor Jiri Bartek at the Danish Cancer Society. The subject of his studies was the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) and its cousins p107 and p130 (pRb2) related to gene repression through the transcription factor E2F and its importance in cell cycle control. In 2003 Dr. Hansen became Associate Professor at the newly established Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC), at the University of Copenhagen. In 2008 Dr. Hansen started his own research group and became one of the partners in the Centre of Epigenetics focusing his research on Polycomb Group (PcG) Proteins of the PRC1 and PRC2 complexes and their function in cell growth and differentiation. Recent work by Dr. Hansen has suggested a mechanism for maintenance of PcG mediated gene repression based on self-recruitment of PRC2 to its own methylation mark: H3K27me3. More recent work in his research group focuses on mechanisms for PRC1 and PRC2 recruitment to target genes via transcription factors as well as signaling from Mitogen- and Stress activated Kinases (MSK1 and MSK2), that affect genes controlled by PcG proteins.