Elisabeth Nyström Team
Understanding mucus from molecule to man
Mucus (green) separates luminal bacteria (red) from the underlying host epithelium (blue/grey).
About
Our research focuses on the function and regulation of the intestinal mucus layer. As the interface between the gut epithelium and the vast microbial community, the mucus barrier plays a central role in host–microbiota interactions and tissue protection.
Our aim is to understand how mucus and mucus-producing goblet cells dynamically shape host–microbiota interactions as an innate immune interface in health and disease. For this, we take an interdisciplinary approach, combining cell and protein omics, targeted in vivo cell manipulation, specialized mucus analysis pipelines, and protein biochemistry. We are particularly interested in how post-translational protein modifications regulate these processes and to develop ex vivo live tissue imaging to study host–microbe interactions in real time.
Team leader
Elisabeth Nyström is a principal investigator at Karolinska Institutet, where she leads a research program focused on mucus biology and mucosal immunology. She obtained her PhD in Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the University of Gothenburg in the Mucin Biology Group, and completed her postdoctoral training in the Becker-Pauly laboratory at Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, where she developed a strong interest in mucus biology and the regulatory role of post-translational modifications.
Team members
Dinesh Nirmalan, Research assistant, MSc, dinesh.nirmalan@ki.se
Selected publication
Cryo-EM structure of CLCA1 identifies CLCA1 as a founding member of a novel metzincin family. Nyström E, van der Post S, Barrett DB, Raba G, Pelaseyed T, Oltean M, et al. bioRxiv 2025; doi:10.1101/2025.10.18.683246
Neonatal microbiota colonization primes maturation of goblet cell-mediated protection in the pre-weaning colon. Johansson Å, Venkita Subramani M, Yilmaz B, Nyström EEL, Layunta E, Arike L, et al. J Exp Med 2025;222(8)
Proteolytic processing of galectin-3 by meprin metalloproteases is crucial for host-microbiome homeostasis. Bülck C, Nyström EEL, Koudelka T, Mannbar-Frahm M, Andresen G, Radhouani M, et al. Sci Adv 2023;9(13):eadf4055
An intercrypt subpopulation of goblet cells is essential for colonic mucus barrier function. Nyström EEL, Martinez-Abad B, Arike L, Birchenough GMH, Nonnecke EB, Castillo PA, et al. Science 2021;372(6539)
Calcium-activated chloride channel regulator 1 (CLCA1) forms non-covalent oligomers in colonic mucus and has mucin 2-processing properties. Nyström EEL, Arike L, Ehrencrona E, Hansson GC, Johansson MEV. J Biol Chem 2019;294(45):17075-17089
Full list of publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FS8L1g0AAAAJ