Micha Drukker
Professor of Stem Cells, Developmental Biology, and Technology for Innovative Drug Research
- Name
- Prof.dr. M.E. Drukker
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 6271
- m.drukker@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-4279-1125
Prof. Dr. Micha Drukker is a professor of Stem Cell Biology, Models and Regenerative medicine at the Division of Drug Discovery & Safety.
Micha Drukker earned his PhD at the Hebrew University before becoming a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University Medical School in the lab of Irving Weissman. He became and received tenure as a group leader and head of the induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell core facility at the Helmholtz Center in Munich in 2012 and 2018. Micha became a full professor at 2020 in Leiden University within the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR). Micha’s interest lies in discovering mechanisms that regulate the formation of the embryonic tissues using iPS cells, in order to create novel models for human disease and drug development with emphasis on neurodegeneration. This line of research is also directly connected to using the stem cells themselves as innovative “living stem cell drugs”. The lab focuses on multifaceted regulation by transcription and epigenetic factors, lncRNAs, membraneless organelles, mechanisms of self-renewal, and extensively uses organoid technology, single cell RNA sequencing, flow cytometry, and CRISPR-Cas9 genetic engineering approaches. Micha’s lab collaborates closely within the science faculty on stem cell organoid models for drug research, toxicity, replacement of animal models, and with the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) on stem cell immunology and manufacturing (GMP) of iPSCs for clinical purposes. Moreover, the lab is banking stem cells from exotic and endangered species of animals for evo-devo projects and de-extinction purposes.
Micha has been awarded as a lead investigator or partner grants funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Horizon 2020, Volkswagen Foundation, the AЯRE Foundation and more.
Professor of Stem Cells, Developmental Biology, and Technology for Innovative Drug Research
- Science
- Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research
- LACDR/Toxicology
- Ugur E., Porte A. de la, Qin W.H., Bultmann S., Ivanova A., Drukker M.E., Mann M., Wierer M. & Leonhardt H. (2023), Comprehensive chromatin proteomics resolves functional phases of pluripotency and identifies changes in regulatory components, Nucleic Acids Research 51(6): 2671-2690.
- Molitor L., Klostermann M., Bacher S., Merl-Pham J., Spranger N., Burczyk S., Ketteler C., Rusha E., Tews D., Pertek A., Proske M., Busch A., Reschke S., Feederle R., Hauck S.M., Blum H., Drukker M., Fischer-Posovszky P., König J., Zarnack K. & Niessing D. (2023), Depletion of the RNA-binding protein PURA triggers changes in posttranscriptional gene regulation and loss of P-bodies, Nucleic Acids Research 51(3): 1297–1316.
- Truong D.J., Armbrust N., Geilenkeuser J., Lederer E.M., Santl T.H., Beyer M., Ittermann S., Steinmaßl E., Dyka M., Raffl G., Phlairaharn T., Greisle T., Živanić M., Grosch M., Drukker M.E. & Westmeyer G.G. (2022), Intron-encoded cistronic transcripts for minimally invasive monitoring of coding and non-coding RNAs, Nature Cell Biology 24(11): 1666-1676.
- Drukker M.E. (18 November 2022), Cell pharmacy (Inaugural address. Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LADCR), Faculty of Science, Leiden University). Leiden: Universiteit Leiden.
- Zywitza V., Frahm S., Krüger N., Weise A., Göritz F., Hermes R., Holtze S., Colleoni S., Galli C., Drukker M.E., Hildebrandt T.B. & Diecke S. (2022), Induced pluripotent stem cells and cerebral organoids from the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, iScience 25(11): 105414.
- Linder M.I., Mizoguchi Y., Hesse S., Csaba G., Tatematsu M., Łyszkiewicz M., Zietara N., Jeske T., Hastreiter M., Rohlfs M., Liu Y., Grabowski P., Ahomaa K., Maier-Begandt D., Schwestka M., Pazhakh V., Isiaku A., Briones Miranda B., Blombery P., Saito M.K., Rusha E., Alizadeh Z., Pourpak Z., Kobayashi M., Rezaei N., Unal E., Hauck F., Drukker M.E., Walzog B., Rappsilber J., Zimmer R., Lieschke G.J. & Klein C. (2023), Human genetic defects in SRP19 and SRPRA cause severe congenital neutropenia with distinctive proteome changes, Blood 141(6): 645-658.
- Matheus F., Raveh T., Oro A.E., Wernig M. & Drukker M.E. (2022), Is hypoimmunogenic stem cell therapy safe in times of pandemics?, Stem Cell Reports 17(4): 711-714.
- Zywitza V., Rusha E., Shaposhnikov D., Ruiz-Orera J., Telugu N., Rishko V., Hayashi M., Michel G., Wittler L., Stejskal J., Holtze S., Göritz F., Hermes R., Wang J., Izsvák Z., Colleoni S., Lazzari G., Galli C., Hildebrandt T.B., Hayashi K., Diecke S. & Drukker M.E. (2022), Naïve-like pluripotency to pave the way for saving the northern white rhinoceros from extinction, Scientific Reports 12(1): 3100.
- Hildebrandt T.B., Hermes R., Goeritz F., Appeltant R., Colleoni S., Mori B. de, Diecke S., Drukker M., Galli C., Hayashi K., Lazzari G., Loi P., PayneJ., Renfree M., Seet S., Stejskal J., Swegen A., Williams S.A., Zainuddin Z.Z. & Holtze S. (2021), The ART of bringing extinction to a freeze: history and future of species conservation, exemplified by rhinos, Theriogenology 169: 76-88.
- Eberherr A.C., Maaske A., Wolf C., Giesert F., Berutti R., Rusha E., Pertek A., Kastlmeier M.T., Voss C., Plummer M., Sayed A., Graf E., Effner R., Volz T., Drukker M., Strom T.M., Meitinger T., Stoeger T., Buyx A.M., Hagl B. & Renner E.D. (2021), Rescue of STAT3 function in hyper-IgE syndrome using adenine base editing, The CRISPR Journal 4(2): 178-190.
- Grosch M., Ittermann S., Shaposhnikov D. & Drukker M.E. (2020), Chromatin-associated membraneless organelles in regulation of cellular differentiation, Stem Cell Reports 15(6): 1220-1232.
- Neagu A., Genderen E. vanl, Escudero I., Verwegen L., Kurek D., Lehmann J., Stel J., Dirks R.A.M., Mierlo G. van, Maas A., Eleveld C., Ge Y., Dekker A.T. den, Brouwer R.W.W., IJcken W.F.J. van, Modic M., Drukker M.E., Jansen J.H., Rivron N.C., Baart E.B., Marks H. & Berge D. ten (2020), In vitro capture and characterization of embryonic rosette-stage pluripotency between naive and primed states, Nature Cell Biology 22: 534-545.
- Grosch M., Ittermann S., Rusha E., Greisle T., Ori C., Truong D.J.J., O'Neill A.C., Pertek A., Westmeyer G.G. & Drukker M. (2020), Nucleus size and DNA accessibility are linked to the regulation of paraspeckle formation in cellular differentiation, BMC Biology 18: 42.
- Kielkowski P., Buchsbaum I.Y., Kirsch V.C., Bach N.C., Drukker M., Cappello S. & Sieber S.A. (2020), FICD activity and AMPylation remodelling modulate human neurogenesis, Nature Communications 11: 517.
- Uzbas F., Opperer F., Sönmezer C., Shaposhnikov D., Sass S., Krendl C., Angerer P., Theis F.J., Mueller N.S. & Drukker M. (2019), BART-Seq: cost-effective massively parallelized targeted sequencing for genomics, transcriptomics, and single-cell analysis, Genome Biology 20: 155.
- Matheus F., Rusha E., Rehimi R., Molitor L., Pertek A., Modic M., Feederle R., Flatley A., Kremmer E., Geerlof A., Rishko V., Rada-Iglesias A. & Drukker M. (2019), Pathological ASXL1 Mutations and Protein Variants Impair Neural Crest Development, Stem Cell Reports 12(5): 861-868.
- Modic M., Grosch M., Rot G., Schirge S., Lepko T., Yamazaki T., Lee F.C.Y., Rusha E., Shaposhnikov D., Palo M., Merl-Pham J., Cacchiarelli D., Rogelj B., Hauck S.M., Mering C. von, Meissner A., Lickert H., Hirose T., Ule J. & Drukker M. (2019), Cross-regulation between TDP-43 and paraspeckles promotes pluripotency-differentiation transition, Molecular Cell 74(5): 951-965.e13.
- Klaus J., Kanton S., Kyrousi C., Ayo-Martin A.C., Di Giaimo R., Riesenberg S., O'Neill A.C., Camp J.G., Tocco C., Santel M., Rusha E., Drukker M., Schroeder M., Gotz M., Robertson S.P., Treutlein B. & Cappello S. (2019), Altered neuronal migratory trajectories in human cerebral organoids derived from individuals with neuronal heterotopia, Nature Medicine 25: 561-568.
- Cesnik A.B., Darovic S., Mihevc S.P., Stalekar M., Malnar M., Motaln H., Lee Y.B., Mazej J., Pohleven J., Grosch M., Modic M., Fonovic M., Turk B., Drukker M., Shaw C.E. & Rogelj B. (2019), Nuclear RNA foci from C9ORF72 expansion mutation form paraspeckle-like bodies, Journal of Cell Science 132(5): jcs224303.
- O'Neill A.C., Kyrousi C., Klaus J., Leventer R.J., Kirk E.P., Fry A., Pilz D.T., Morgan T., Jenkins Z.A., Drukker M., Berkovic S.F., Scheffer I.E., Guerrini R., Markie D.M., Gotz M., Cappello S. & Robertson S.P. (2018), A Primate-Specific Isoform of PLEKHG6 Regulates Neurogenesis and Neuronal Migration, Cell Reports 25(10): 2729-2741.e6.
- Cárdenas. A., Villalba A., Juan Romero C. de, Picó E., Kyrousi C., Tzika A.C., Tessier-Lavigne M., Ma L., Drukker M.,Cappello S. & Borrell V. (2018), Evolution of cortical neurogenesis in amniotes controlled by robo Signaling Levels, Cell 174(3): 590-606.E21.
- Hildebrandt T.B., Hermes R., Colleoni S., Diecke S., Holtze S., Renfree M.B., Stejskal J., Hayashi K., Drukker M., Loi P., Goritz F., Lazzari G. & Galli C. (2018), Embryos and embryonic stem cells from the white rhinoceros, Nature Communications 9: 2589.
- Bratkovic T., Modic M., Ortega G.C., Drukker M. & Rogelj B. (2018), Neuronal differentiation induces SNORD115 expression and is accompanied by post-transcriptional changes of serotonin receptor 2c mRNA, Scientific Reports 8: 5101.
- O'Neill A.C., Kyrousi C., Einsiedler M., Burtscher I., Drukker M., Markie D.M., Kirk E.P., Gotz M., Robertson S.P. & Cappello S. (2018), Mob2 Insufficiency Disrupts Neuronal Migration in the Developing Cortex, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 12: 57.
- Fallik N., Bar-Lavan Y., Greenshpan Y., Goldstein O., Grosch M., Drukker M.E. & Gazit R. (2017), Neat1 in hematopoietic stem cells, OncoTarget 8(65): 109575-109586.
- Kunze C., Borner K., Kienle E., Orschmann T., Rusha E., Schneider M., Radivojkov-Blagojevic M., Drukker M.E., Desbordes S., Grimm D. & Brack-Werner R. (2017), Synthetic AAV/CRISPR vectors for blocking HIV-1 expression in persistently infected astrocytes, Glia 66(2): 413-427.
- Krendl C., Shaposhnikov D., Rishko V., Ori C., Ziegenhai C, Sass S., Simon L., Müller N.S., Straub T., Brooks K.E., Chavez S.L., Enard W., Theis F.J. & Drukker M. (2017), GATA2/3-TFAP2A/C transcription factor network couples human pluripotent stem cell differentiation to trophectoderm with repression of pluripotency, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114(45): E9579-E9588.
- Darovic S., Stalekar M., Lee Y.B., Pohleven J., Modic M., Fonovic M., Turk B., Drukker M.E., Shaw C. & Rogelj B. (2016), Intranuclear (GGGGCC)(n) RNA foci induce formation of paraspeckle-like structures, Journal of Neurochemistry 138(S1): 415-415.
- Saragusty J., Diecke S., Drukker M., Durrant B., Ben-Nun I.F., Galli C., Goritz F., Hayashi K., Hermes R., Holtze S., Johnson S., Lazzari G., Loi P., Loring J.F., Okita K., Renfree M.B., Seet S., Voracek T., Stejskal J., Ryder O.A. & Hildebrandt T.B. (2016), Rewinding the process of mammalian extinction, ZOO Biology 35(4): 280-292.
- Alvarez Palomo A.B., McLenachan S., Chen F.K., Da Cruz L., Dilley R.J., Requena J., Lucas M., Lucas A., Drukker M. & Edel M.J. (2015), Prospects for clinical use of reprogrammed cells for autologous treatment of macular degeneration, Fibrogenesis & Tissue Repair 8: 9.
- Rinkevich Y., Walmsley G.G., Hu M.S., Maan Z.N., Newman A.M., Drukker M., Januszyk M., Krampitz G.W., Gurtner G.C., Lorenz H.P., Weissman I.L. & Longaker M.T. (2015), Identification and isolation of a dermal lineage with intrinsic fibrogenic potential, Science 348(6232): aaa2151.
- Kurek D., Neagu A., Tastemel M., Tuysuz N., Lehmann J., Werken H.J.G. van de, Philipsen S., Linden R. van der, Maas A., IJcken W.F.J. van, Drukker M. & Berge D. ten (2015), Endogenous WNT signals mediate BMP-induced and spontaneous differentiation of epiblast stem cells and human embryonic stem cells, Stem Cell Reports 4(1): 114-128.
- Ardehali R., Ali S.R., Inlay M.A., Abilez O.J., Chen M.Q., Blauwkamp T.A., Yazawa M., Gong Y.Q., Nusse R., Drukker M.E. & Weissman I.L. (2013), Prospective isolation of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiovascular progenitors that integrate into human fetal heart tissue, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110(9): 3405-3410.
- Drukker M.E., Tang C., Ardehali R., Rinkevich Y., Seita J., Lee A.S., Mosley A.R., Weissman I.L. & Soen Y. (2012), Isolation of primitive endoderm, mesoderm, vascular endothelial and trophoblast progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells, Nature Biotechnology 30: 531-542.
- Tang C., Weissman I.L. & Drukker M. (2012), The safety of embryonic stem cell therapy relies on teratoma removal, OncoTarget 3(1): 7-8.
- Tang C. & Drukker M.E. (2011), Potential barriers to therapeutics utilizing pluripotent cell derivatives: intrinsic immunogenicity of in vitro maintained and matured populations, Springer Seminars in Immunopathology 33: 563-572.
- Tang C., Lee A.S., Volkmer J.P., Sahoo D., Nag D., Mosley A.R., Inlay M.A., Ardehali R., Chavez S.L., Pera R.R., Behr B., Wu J.C., Weissman I.L. & Drukker M. (2011), An antibody against SSEA-5 glycan on human pluripotent stem cells enables removal of teratoma-forming cells, Nature Biotechnology 29(9): 829-834.
- Ardehali R., Inlay M.A., Ali S.R., Tang C., Drukker M.E. & Weissman I.L. (2011), Overexpression of BCL2 enhances survival of human embryonic stem cells during stress and obviates the requirement for serum factors, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(8): 3282-3287.
- Franco C.B., Chen C.C., Drukker M., Weissman I.L. & Galli S.J. (2010), Distinguishing Mast Cell and Granulocyte Differentiation at the Single-Cell Level, Cell Stem Cell 6(4): 361-368.
- Yamada M., Gurney P.T., Chung J., Kundu P., Drukker M.E., Smith A.K., Weissman I.L., Nishimura D., Robbins R.C. & Yang P.C. (2009), Manganese-Guided Cellular MRI of Human Embryonic Stem Cell and Human Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Viability, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 62(4): 1047-1054.
- Cao F., Wagner R.A., Wilson K.D., Xie X.Y., Fu J.D., Drukker M., Lee A., Li R.A., Gambhir S.S., Weissman I.L., Robbins R.C. & Wu J.C. (2008), Transcriptional and functional profiling of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, PLoS ONE 3(10): e3474.
- Hendry S.L., Bogt K.E.A. van der, Sheikh A.Y., Arai T., Dylla S.J., Drukker M., McConnell M.V., Kutschka I., Hoyt G., Cao F., Weissman I.L., Connolly A.J., Pelletier M.P., Wu J.C., Robbins R.C. & Yang P.C. (2008), Multimodal evaluation of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging of myocardial restoration by mouse embryonic stem cells, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 136(4): 1028-1037.el.
- Drukker & M.E. (2008), Recent advancements towards the derivation of immune-compatible patient-specific human embryonic stem cell lines, Seminars in Immunology 20(2): 123-129.
- Cao F., Drukker M.E., Lin S., Sheikh A.Y., Xie X.Y., Li Z.J., Connolly A.J., Weissman I.L. & Wu J.C. (2007), Molecular imaging of embryonic stem cell misbehavior and suicide gene ablation, Cloning and Stem Cells 9(1): 107-117.
- Drukker & M.E. (2006), Immunogenicity of embryonic stem cells and their progeny. In: Klimanskaya I. & Lanza R. (Eds.), Stem Cell Tools and Other Experimental Protocols. Methods in Enzymology no. 420: Academic Press. 391-409.
- Cao F., Lin S., Xie X.Y., Ray P., Patel M., Zhang X.Z., Drukker M.E., Dylla S.J., Connolly A.J., Chen X.Y., Weissman I.L., Gambhir S.S. & Wu J.C. (2006), In vivo visualization of embryonic stem cell survival, proliferation, and migration after cardiac delivery, Circulation 113(7): 1005-1014.
- Drukker M., Katchman H., Katz G., Friedman S.E.T., Shezen E., Hornstein E., Mandelboim O., Reisner Y. & Benvenisty N. (2006), Human embryonic stem cells and their differentiated derivatives are less susceptible to immune rejection than adult cells, Stem Cells 24(2): 221-229.
- Drukker & M.E. (2004), Immunogenicity of human embryonic stem cells: can we achieve tolerance?, Springer Seminars in Immunopathology 26: 201-213.
- Drukker M. & Benvenisty N. (2004), The immunogenicity of human embryonic stem-derived cells, Trends in Biotechnology 22(3): 136-141.
- Goldstein R.S., Drukker M.E., Reubinoff B.E. & Benvenisty N. (2002), Integration and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells transplanted to the chick embryo, Developmental Dynamics 225(1): 80-86.
- Drukker M., Katz G., Urbach A., Schuldiner M., Markel G., Itskovitz-Eldor J., Reubinoff B., Mandelboim O. & Benvenisty N. (2002), Characterization of the expression of MHC proteins in human embryonic stem cells, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99(15): 9864-9869.
- Eiges R., Schuldiner M., Drukker M.E., Yanuka O., Itskovitz-Eldor J. & Benvenisty N. (2001), Establishment of human embryonic stem cell-transfected clones carrying a marker for undifferentiated cells, Current Biology 11(7): 514-518.
- Eden A., Nedervelde L. van, Drukker M., Benvenisty N. & Debourg A. (2001), Involvement of branched-chain amino acid aminotransferases in the production of fusel alcohols during fermentation in yeast, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 55: 296-300.
- Director
- Consultant