The Laboratory for Lymphocyte Biology focuses on the role of B and T lymphocytes in health and disease, with a particular emphasis on tolerance and autoimmunity. B and T lymphocytes are the main constituents of the adaptive immune system, a branch of the immune system with the remarkable abilities of ‘learning’ and ‘memory’. We investigate these phenomena with a combination of molecular techniques, mouse models, flow and imaging cytometry, cell sorting, and advanced imaging techniques, including confocal and two-photon microscopy. Our work has implications for the development of treatments for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases, as well as vaccine design.

October 2023 - Cecilia and Thomas' paper on antigen presentation by B cells as a driver of autoimmune disease is now out in Nature Communications!

September 2023 - We are very grateful to NEYE Fonden for their generous support of DKK 500,000! Looking forward to kicking off this collaboration with Carsten Niemann and Christian Brieghel at CCL Lab, Rigshospitalet, and Ralf Jungmann at Max Planck Institute, Münich, to improve B-CLL diagnosis and therapy! Read more about the project here (in Danish).

September 2023 - We're very sad to see Cecilia leave the lab. She has been with us since the beginning and has truly been an asset. Best of luck in your next endeavours Cecilia!

August 2023 - Congratulations to Johannes on completing his pre-thesis and happy to welcome him for his MSc project!

June 2023 - Congratulations to Amanda on succesfully defending her thesis! Sad to see Gudrun leave the lab, but happy for her new position in CiViA.

May 2023 - Congratulations to Layla Pohl on winning the Bionordika and Miltenyi Best Presentation Award at the Danish Immunology Society Meeting!

March 2023 - Alex and Marjan's paper is getting some attention out there!

March 2023 - Alex and Marjan's paper on B cell activation is finally out in Nature Communications - a groundbreaking new view on the B cell receptor mechanism of activation!

January 2023 - Happy to welcome Yamira and Johannes for bachelor and pre-thesis work in the lab.

New Year 2022 - We're sad to see Thomas leave the lab but super proud that he landed a position with the FACSCore at AU and Steno Diabetes Center AUH - no doubt he'll be an asset! 

December 2022 - Lasse's paper on the role of the extrafollicular response in autoimmune disease is out in Frontiers in Immunology

November 2022 - Happy to welcome Karolina for an Erasmus+ Master's project in the lab.

August 2022 - We're happy to welcome Layla Pohl and Kristian S. Kastberg as new PhD students in the lab.

July 2022 - Excited to see Sofie and Gudrun's paper on maternofetal effects in BXSB mice out in the Journal of Neuroimmunology - and it made the front page!

June 2022 - Congrats to Kristian and Mathias on succesfully defending their Master's theses!

May 2022 - Our new manuscript, explaining how B cells can drive autoimmunity and epitope spreading, is out on SSRN as a pre-print and under review at Cell!

March 2022 - Søren E. Degn is promoted to tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedicine.

March 2022 - Happy to see Lasse's first paper out as a pre-print on bioRxiv - a stunning demonstration of how cutaneous immune stimulation can precipitate global autoimmunity, with the surprising conclusion that this can be driven by extrafollicular responses!

February 2022 - Thrilled to see Alex and Marjan's paper out as a pre-print on ResearchSquare - a novel take on the mechanism of activation of the B cell receptor!

January 2022 - Congrats to Amanda Howarth on completing her Mol. Biol. project.

December 2021 - Super excited to see Kenneth's paper published in Frontiers in Immunology!

September 2021 - Congratulations to Kathrine on starting a PhD in the lab, joint with Steffen Thiel's group!

August 2021 - Congratulations to Sofie on starting a PhD in the lab!

June-September 2021 - Congrats to Kristian and Mathias on succesfully defending their Mol. Med. projects! Congrats to Amanda on completing her Bachelor.

January 2021 - Congrats to Annika, Ella, Emma, Lea, Sonja and Lasse on completing their projects, despite the challenges of COVID-19.

November 2020 - Congratulations to Kenneth on starting a PhD in the lab, joint with Jørgen Kjems's group!

August 2020 - Happy to welcome Annika, Ella, Emma, Lea, Sonja and Lasse to the lab! Also happy to have Kenneth and Sofie back for continuing projects

June 2020 - Congrats to Laura who has defended her Master's thesis and Amanda, Camilla, Mathias and Kenneth who completed their bachelor's projects, despite the challenges associated with the COVID-19 mandated lockdown in the spring

January 2020 - Degnlab welcomes new bachelor students Amanda, Mathias and Kenneth

December, 2019 - Søren E. Degn is awarded a research grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation

October 2019 - Degnlab Yearly Retreat held at Sandbjerg Estate

September 2019 - New Master's student, Laura, joins the group

August 2019 - The new Department Website has launched and it has a feature article about our work!

July 2019 - New postdoc, Gudrun, joins the group

July 2019 - Congratulations Sofie on completing the bachelor! You will be missed in the group, but we wish you all the best for your Master's programme at the Sino-Danish Center in Beijing!

March 2019 - Congratulations to Cecilia on being awarded a Lundbeckfonden Postdoctoral Fellowship!

March 2019 - We have now moved into the Skou Biomedical Building!

January 2019 - Sofie, bachelor student, joins the lab

September 2018 - Degnlab welcomes Ewa, new postdoc

March 2018 - Cecilia, new postdoc, joins the group

In the press

Dansk forskning: Lærebøgerne om immunforsvaret skal skrives om

Forskere får immunforsvaret til at lyse op

Scientists can finally explain how autoimmune disease spreads

Negativ spiral kickstarter leddegigt og stofskiftesygdomme

Researchers find the answer to how autoimmune diseases spread

Derfor bliver autoimmune sygdomme bare værre og værre

Finding what fuels the runaway train of autoimmune diseases

Banebrydende dansk forskning knuser etableret viden om immunsystemet

Ung Aarhus forsker får prestigestipendium

På jagt efter årsagen til Systemisk Lupus Erythematosus