Prof. Dr. Anne-Kathrin Claßen
Focus of research
- collective cell behaviors in epithelial morphogenesis
- tissue regeneration and tumor growth
- cell-cell competition and tissue-intrinsic tumor suppression
CV
- 2022 Heisenberg Professor, University of Freiburg, Germany
- 2017–2021 Boehringer Ingelheim Stiftung Plus3 Group Leader, University of Freiburg, Germany
- 2017 Interim Professor Cell Biology, University of Freiburg, Germany
- 2011–2017 Emmy Noether Group Leader, LMU Munich, Germany
- 2006–2010 Postdoc, UC Berkeley, USA
- 2006 PhD in Biology, MPI-CBG and TU Dresden, Germany
- 2002 MSc in Biomolecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2000 BSc in Cell Biology, University of Manchester, UK
Recent publications
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Weichselberger, V. J. B., Balaji, R., Rodriguez-Franco, M., & Classen, A.-K. (2026). Reorganization of E-cadherin into apical spot junctions mediates interlineage adhesion between epithelial and germline cells. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 14, 1807574. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2026.1807574
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Nogay, L., Vijayakumar Maya, A., Heckmann, L., Cardamone, F., Grass, I., Singh, A., Frey, A.-V., Ernst, L., Iovino, N., & Classen, A.-K. (2026). Cell cycle dynamics regulate H3K27 and H3K9 histone modifications in Drosophila. PLoS Biology, 24(3), e3003371. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003371
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Frey, A.-V., Ernst, L., Fischer, F., Alpar, L., Bellaïche, Y., & Classen, A.-K. (2026). Toll receptors mediate tissue intrinsic surveillance against aberrant cells by detecting cell fate aberrations. Development, 153(4), dev205006. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.205006
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Vijayakumar Maya, A., Neuhaus, L., Nogay, L., Singh, A., Heckmann, L., Grass, I., Buescher, J. M., Kierdorf, K., & Classen, A.-K. (2025). A JAK/STAT-Pdk1-S6K axis bypasses systemic growth restrictions to promote regeneration. Nature Communications, 16, 10944. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66995-z
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Jahn, J., Hofherr, A., Consoli, C., Fajen, B., Goll, R., Liedtke, G. T., Boehm, A., Selbach, F., Zeisler, P.-C., Weichselberger, V., Classen, A.-K., Westermann, L., Busch, T., & Köttgen, M. (2025). Deep learning-based image quantification of epithelial cell shapes and its application to polycystic kidney disease. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.13.670046