Bio
Dr. Engedal graduated with an MSc in Biochemistry at the University of Oslo in 1999. He received his pre-doctoral research training in the group of Prof. Fahri Saatcioglu at the Biotechnology Centre of Oslo, where he focused on intracellular signaling, transcriptional regulation, and cell death in prostate cancer cells. Engedal then switched to study intracellular signal regulation of T lymphocyte cell proliferation and death by retinoic acid in the group of Prof. Heidi Kiil Blomhoff at the Medical Faculty (University of Oslo), where he obtained his PhD (Dr. philos) in 2005.
Following a postdoc period that focused on membrane transport mechanisms and cancer-relevant toxins in Prof. Kirsten Sandvig’s group at the Norwegian Radium Hospital, Dr. Engedal joined the group of Prof. Ian G. Mills at the Nordic EMBL partnership “Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway” (NCMM) in 2010. Here, Dr. Engedal started his own project centered on understanding the molecular regulation of autophagy and cell death by calcium and ER stress signaling. For this, Engedal received several research grants, including a Young Talent grant from the Research Council of Norway. The focus on autophagy included a long-term collaboration with the Norwegian pioneer in autophagy research Per O. Seglen (from 2012). Dr Engedal led the independent research group “The Autophagy Team” at NCMM in the period 2014-2020, with an output of >25 papers in peer-reviewed journals and two completed PhDs (Morten Luhr 2014-2018 and Paula Szalai/Lindner 2016-2020).
Recently, Engedal moved to the Institute for Cancer Research at Oslo University Hospital, where he started up the “Autophagy in cancer” research team, affiliated with Prof. Eivind Hovig’s group at the Department of Tumor Biology. Engedal’s new team focuses on the role of autophagy in cancer, and the potential use of autophagy modulation in cancer therapy. At the same Department, Engedal has also worked with Dr. Alfonso Urbanucci’s team on exploring epigenetic-targeting drugs for novel chemo/radiation combination therapies in prostate cancer, and single-cell sequencing to identify predictors of treatment response.
Engedal has authored >55 papers in peer-reviewed journals (see Publications).
Engedal chairs the Nordic Autophagy Society (since 2015) and is an elected International Affiliate Council Member in the Oncology section of the Autophagy, Inflammation and Metabolism Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (AIM). In 2016-2020, he served as a managing committee member and task collaborator in the TransAUTOPHAGY EU COST action CA15138. Engedal is an Editorial Board Member in the journal Cells, where he is currently editing the Topical Collection "Feature Papers in Autophagy". He is also an Editorial Board Member in the journal Biomolecules. Engedal guest edited the Special Issue “Autophagy in Cancer” in Biology in 2019-2020, and two Special Issues on “Transautophagy: Research and Translation of Autophagy Knowledge” in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity in 2018 and 2020.
Link to the Engedal Lab Home Page