Prof. Dr. Jan-Henning Klusmann

Since 2011, Prof. Dr. med. Klusmann has been a fellow of the Emmy-Noether Programme (German Research Foundation) and head of the leukemia research group. In 2017, he became grantee of the European Research Council (ERC). In 2018, he moved from Hannover Medical School to the Martin Luther Unviersity Halle-Wittenberg, where he became a professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Oncology. As of 2021, he is a professor of Pediatrics and director of the Department of Pediatrics at the Goethe University Frankfurt.

In the last years, Prof. Klusmann has made major contributions towards understanding the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia in children with Down syndrome, and towards improving their treatment options. In parallel, he has described miR-125b, an oncogene on chromosome 21 which helps explain the 20-fold higher frequency of AML in infants with Down syndrome. This work introduced microRNAs as a new class of genes that involved in Down syndrome leukemogenesis, and was awarded the “Leukemia Clinical Research Awards 2011” of the German Society of Hematology and Oncology (DGHO) and the “Rudolf Schoen-Prize 2011” of the TUI foundation for outstanding scientific and clinical achievements.

Further research from his team found that miR-125b cannot be considered alone, but rather, must be investigated in its genomic context. Together with the establishment of a non-coding expression atlas for childhood AMLs, this work has advanced our knowledge of small and large non-coding RNAs, and of their roles in the development of this fatal disease. As a clinician, Prof. Klusmann’s central aim is to bring science from the bench to the bedside.

Prof. Dr. Klusmann was a fellow of the German National Academic Foundation and studied medicine in the University of Lübeck, where he received his approbation in 2007. For his doctoral thesis, “Myeloid leukemia in children with Down syndrome: molecular basis of oncogenesis”, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Stuart Orkin (Boston Chrildren’s Hospital , USA) and was honored with the “Dissertationspreis Tumorforschung 2007” from the Hannover Medical School Cancer Foundation. In 2007 he started his clinical training in pediatrics at the Hannover Medical School.

Honors
2003-2007 Scholar of the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes” (German National Academic Foundation)
2007 “Dissertationspreis Tumorforschung 2007” for best doctoral thesis, Hannover Medical School Cancer Foundation
2007 Jan C. Molenaar Prize for Young Scientists from the Sophia Children’s Hospital Foundation, Erasmus University Rotterdam
2011 “Leukemia Clinical Research Awards 2011”, German Society for Hematology and Oncology (DGHO)
2011 Rudolf Schoen Prize 2011 for outstanding scientific and clinical achievements, TUI foundation
2011 Fellow of the “Emmy Noether-programme”, German research foundation (DFG)
2012 “ASH outstanding abstract achievement award 2012”, American Society of Hematology
2014 “ASH abstract achievement award 2014”, American Society of Hematology
2015 Kind Philipp Prize for outstanding work in pediatric oncology, German Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (GPOH)
2017 Robert J. Arceci Innovation Award, St. Baldrick’s Foundation
2020 Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Award, 2019/2020

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