1. Unit startpage
  2. Employees
  3. Erik Knutsen
Bilde av Knutsen, Erik
Bilde av Knutsen, Erik
Department of Medical Biology erik.knutsen@uit.no +4777620899 +47 48201910 Tromsø You can find me here

Erik Knutsen

Job description

I’m a molecular biologist with a Master’s degree in Molecular biotechnology and a PhD in Medical biology. My main research area is within breast cancer, where we perform molecular experiments in cell lines and patient material and perform large scale computer analysis.

The main aim with our research is to understand why the cancer cells spread to other parts of the body, and to try to find new ways of preventing this.  

I’m also the Study program leader for the Bachelor program in biomedicine.

 

Research key words: Breast cancer, single cell sequencing, bioinformatics, CRISPR/Cas, Serglycin, non-coding RNAs, transcriptome analysis, RNA-Sequencing, metastasis, lymph node, tumor microenvironment.

  • Kamilla Gjerland, Sondre Valentin, Erik, Kirsten Brun, Vegard Heimly :
    Growth Hormone Alters Remapping in the Hippocampal Area CA1 in a Novel Environment
    eNeuro 2025 DOI
  • Marek, Saikat Das, Anne-Grethe, Anders, Pablo, Alfredo et al.:
    Induction of Cell Death by Combined Treatment with Photosensitizer-Chitosan Nanoparticles and the Ferroptosis Inducer RSL3 in Breast Cancer Cell Lines
    Advanced NanoBiomed Research 2025 DOI
  • Teodor G., Eilís, Elena, Jamal, Simon, Adrian et al.:
    DNA methylation classifier to diagnose pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma metastases from different anatomical sites
    Clinical Epigenetics 2024 DOI / ARKIV
  • Rares, Barbara, Xiao, Mireia Cruz De Los, Ancuta, Lan et al.:
    17β-estradiol promotes extracellular vesicle release and selective miRNA loading in ERα-positive breast cancer
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Andreas, Jan, Michael W., Jan M., Maurice J. B. van den, Mihnea P. et al.:
    Disclosing quantitative RT-PCR raw data during manuscript submission: a call for action
    Molecular Oncology 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Mihnea P., Enrique, Melanie, Keishi, Recep, Erik et al.:
    Anti–miR-93-5p therapy prolongs sepsis survival by restoring the peripheral immune response
    Journal of Clinical Investigation 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Erik, Saikat Das, Tonje, James Bradley, Thorarinn, Gunhild Mari et al.:
    Identification of a core EMT signature that separates basal-like breast cancers into partial- and post-EMT subtypes
    Frontiers in Oncology 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Åse, Erik, Tor Erik, Hilde, Steinar Daae, Ole Lars et al.:
    Blood Transcriptome Analysis of Septic Patients Reveals a Long Non-Coding Alu-RNA in the Complement C5a Receptor 1 Gene
    Non-coding RNA 2022 DOI / ARKIV
  • Christiane, Erik, Daniela, Katharina, Barbara, Ellen et al.:
    ALYREF, a novel factor involved in breast carcinogenesis, acts through transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms selectively regulating the short NEAT1 isoform
    Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences (CMLS) 2022 DOI / ARKIV
  • Marta Tellez, Xavier, Trine M., Beate, Stephanie Rose, Meng et al.:
    Serglycin is Involved in TGF-β induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition and is highly expressed by immune cells in breast cancer tissue
    Frontiers in Oncology 14. abril 2022 DOI / ARKIV
  • Zoi, Panagiotis N, Dimitra, Erik, Achilleas D. :
    Proteoglycans Determine the Dynamic Landscape of EMT and Cancer Cell Stemness
    Cancers 2022 DOI / ARKIV
  • Vegard Heimly, Erik, Helge, Hanne :
    Severe hypercalcemia caused by parathyroid hormone in a rectal cancer metastasis: a case report
    BMC Endocrine Disorders 07. enero 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Ingrid A, George A., Mihnea Paul, Erik :
    CRISPR/Cas9 to Silence Long Non-Coding RNAs
    2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Erik, Adrian, Maria :
    Expression and functions of long non-coding RNA NEAT1 and isoforms in breast cancer
    British Journal of Cancer 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Erika Pereira, Recep, Tayana Schultz, Cristina, Ana Carolina de Mello Alves, Carolina et al.:
    A novel lncRNA derived from an ultraconserved region: lnc- uc.147, a potential biomarker in luminal A breast cancer
    RNA Biology 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Mihnea Paul, Erik, George A. :
    Classical and noncanonical functions of miRNAs in cancers
    Trends in Genetics 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Erik, Seyed Mohammad, Miriam Ragle, Silje, Silje, Kenneth Bowitz et al.:
    The expression of the long NEAT1_2 isoform is associated with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancers
    Scientific Reports 2020 DOI / ARKIV
  • Baoqing, Mihnea Paul, Linda, Recep, Erik, Xu et al.:
    The long noncoding RNA CCAT2 induces chromosomal instability through BOP1-AURKB signaling
    Gastroenterology 2020 DOI / ARKIV
  • Mihnea Paul, Ganiraju C, Leonie Florence, Léa, Erik, Cristina et al.:
    FuncPEP: A Database of Functional Peptides Encoded by Non-Coding RNAs
    Non-coding RNA 2020 DOI / ARKIV
  • Marta Tellez, Erik, Maria :
    Current Status of Circulating Tumor Cells, Circulating Tumor DNA, and Exosomes in Breast Cancer Liquid Biopsies
    International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2020 DOI / ARKIV
  • Mihnea Paul, Vlad, Roxana, Barbara, Erik, Simone et al.:
    A Holistic Perspective: Exosomes Shuttle between Nerves and Immune Cells in the Tumor Microenvironment
    Journal of Clinical Medicine 2020 DOI / ARKIV
  • Moran, Hideaki, Mihnea Paul, Antje, Frederico O., Curtis R. et al.:
    Loss of p53 drives neuron reprogramming in head and neck cancer
    Nature 2020 DOI
  • Enrique, Recep, Taghi, Andreia M, Cristina, Diana et al.:
    MiR-543 regulates the epigenetic landscape of myelofibrosis by targeting TET1 and TET2
    JCI Insight 2020 DOI
  • Martin, Cristian, Su Youn, Mihnea Paul, Recep, Simone et al.:
    Therapeutic potential of FLANC, a novel primate-specific long non-coding RNA in colorectal cancer
    Gut 2020 DOI
  • Roxana, Vlad, Erik, Mihnea-Paul, George A :
    Diagnostic and Therapeutic MicroRNAs in Primary Myelofibrosis
    Proceedings of the Singapore National Academy of Science 2020 DOI
  • Cornelia, Diana, Roxana Maria, Lajos, Ancuta, Erik et al.:
    miR-181a/b therapy in lung cancer: reality or myth?
    Molecular Oncology 2019 DOI / ARKIV
  • Stine, Erik, Ilona, Christopher Graham, Bryan, Maria et al.:
    ICAM1 expression is induced by proinflammatory cytokines and associated with TLS formation in aggressive breast cancer subtypes
    Scientific Reports 2018 DOI / ARKIV
  • Annica, Erik, Anne Silje, Tor Erik, Maria, Steinar Daae :
    Cancer-specific SNPs originate from low-level heteroplasmic variants in human mitochondrial genomes of a matched cell line pair
    Mitochondrial DNA. Part A, DNA Mapping, Sequencing, and Analysis 2018 DOI
  • Peng, Lucas C., Erik, Meng, Martin, Hui et al.:
    Metformin blocks MYC protein synthesis in colorectal cancer via mTOR-4EBP-eIF4E and MNK1-eIF4G-eIF4E signaling
    Molecular Oncology 2018 DOI / ARKIV
  • Seyed Mohammad, Ingrid Arctander, Annica, Liv Torill, Ingvild, Erik et al.:
    The long noncoding RNA NEAT1 and nuclear paraspeckles are up-regulated by the transcription factor HSF1 in the heat shock response
    Journal of Biological Chemistry 2018 DOI / ARKIV
  • Mihnea-Paul, Erik, George A. :
    SnapShot: Unconventional miRNA Functions
    Cell 2018
  • Skarphedinn, Neha, Manuela, Kumari, Thorarinn, Erik et al.:
    Metabolic re-wiring of isogenic breast epithelial cell lines following epithelial to mesenchymal transition
    Cancer Letters 2017 DOI / ARKIV
  • M. Raafat, Morten, Mari, Anita, Erik, Mona et al.:
    Differentially expressed micro RNAs in meningiomas grades I and II suggest shared biomarkers with malignant tumors
    Cancers 2016 DOI / ARKIV
  • Sarah A, Erik, Tonje, Peter Andree, Swapnil Parashram, Øyvind et al.:
    Next generation sequencing of microRNAs from isogenic neuroblastoma cell lines isolated before and after treatment
    Cancer Letters 2016 DOI
  • Tonje, Erik, Malene, Tor Erik, Steinar Daae, maria et al.:
    Distinct small RNA signatures in extracellular vesicles derived from breast cancer cell lines
    PLOS ONE 2016 DOI / ARKIV
  • Erik, maria, Tonje, Steinar Daae :
    Performance Comparison and Data Analysis Strategies for MicroRNA Profiling in Cancer Research
    2015 DOI
  • Erik, Tonje, anita, Tor Erik, maria, Eiliv et al.:
    Performance Comparison of Digital microRNA Profiling Technologies Applied on Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines
    PLOS ONE 2013 DOI / ARKIV
  • Saikat Das, Åse, Vegard, Elin Synnøve, Aud-Malin Karlsson, Xavier et al.:
    Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a major contributor to intratumor heterogeneity in lymph node metastasis in breast cancer
    2023
  • Anne Kristin Mclaren, Kjersti, Stine, Saikat Das, Hallvard Lauritz, Maria et al.:
    TRIM32 in Head and Neck Cancer
    2023
  • Marit Aaby, Christine Aaserød, Erik :
    DNA-endringer etter neoadjuvant kjemo knyttet til økt brystkreftoverlevelse
    29. agosto 2022 FULLTEKST
  • Erik :
    Serglycin from infiltrating immune cells as an inducer of epithelial mesenchymal transition in breast cancer cells
    2022
  • Erik :
    Single cell sequencing of breast cancer cells present in the lymph nodes
    2022
  • Erik :
    Kreftene som forsvinner
    2022 FULLTEKST
  • Erik :
    Single cell sequencing of breast cancer cells present in the lymph nodes
    2022
  • Erik, maria, Steinar Daae, morten :
    Study of functional RNA using high-throughput profiling technologies in a human cell model system
    2012
  • Erik, morten, Tonje, anita, Eiliv, Ole Morten et al.:
    MiRNA expression profiling based on different high-throughput platforms reveals surprising variations
    2011
  • Steinar Daae, morten, Igor, Teshome, Dag-Hugo, M. Raafat et al.:
    Investigating miRNAs and transcriptomes at our local SOLiD sequencing facility
    2011

    • The 50 latest publications is shown on this page. See all publications in Cristin here →

    Research interests

    I’m currently leading a single cell RNA-sequencing project with the aim of subclassifying breast cancer cell present in the lymph nodes for better personalized diagnosis and treatment.

    The project will assess the transcriptional changes in breast cancer cells as they are subjected to the microenvironment of the lymph nodes, and will examine the impact of this new microenvironment on epithelial mesenchymal transition, cancer stem cells, and risk of metastasis, recurrence, and dormancy. The project combines the use of fresh patient samples, bioinformatics, and in vivo and in vitro models.

    I have an ambition to better diagnosis for breast cancer patients to prevent overtreatment with serious side effects, to generate new basic knowledge on metastasis, and to find new targets for prevention of metastasis. I further want to tackle the problem of tumor dormancy, as this is one of the great challenges when it comes to relapse and metastasis.

    I believe solving the problems of metastasis and tumor dormancy can only be reached by a strong collaboration between clinicians/ oncologists, bioinformaticians, and molecular biologists, and I have therefore established such collaborations locally, nationally, and internationally.

    Teaching

    I’m the Study Program Leader for the Bachelor program in biomedicine, and I teach in cellular biology at the bachelor, master, and PhD level. My main area of expertise is genetics, cancer biology, non-coding RNAs, and -omics analysis.

    I’m currently main supervisor for two Ph.D. students and one master student, as well as co-supervisor for one Ph.D. student. Previously, I have been main supervisor for one Master’s student, two Erasmus+ trainee students, and two Bachelor's or undergraduate student and co-supervisor for three Master’s students and one Bachelor's or undergraduate student.

    ResearchGate
    ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4903-0150

    Member of research group

    Tumor Biology Research Group   English content

    Member of project

    Breast cancer metastasis

    CV

    Research Experience

    08-2023-Present, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Associate professor (Principal Investigator)

    08-2020-07-2023, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Researcher (Principal Investigator)

    04-2017-07-2020, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Postdoctoral fellow                     

    PI: Maria Perander

    02-2018-02-2019, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Postdoctoral fellow                     

    PI: George A. Calin

    01-2017-04-2017, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Associate professor

    05-2016-12-2016, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Head engineer

    06-2011-12-2011, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Scientific assistant

    06-2010-08-2010, GenØk, Laboratory assistant

     

    For full CV, se "Vedlegg"

    MH øst L8.231


    Click for bigger map

    Attachments: