Group leader
Mechanics of mucociliary tissues, from frog embryos to human organoids.
Jakub combines physics and cell biology to understand how tissues build themselves and how their mechanics fail in disease. He led a research group at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW) at the University of Copenhagen before moving the lab to Germany in 2026.
2026–now
Professor of Mechanobiology in Medicine
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany
2017–2026
Group leader, later Associate Professor
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem), then the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW)
2011–2017
Postdoctoral fellow, then research associate
University of Texas at Austin, USA
Lab of John Wallingford, working on frog embryos
2006–2010
PhD
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
Lab of Ewa Paluch, on the physics of how cells divide; stayed on as a postdoc until 2011
2004–2006
MSc in Biotechnology
University of Wrocław, Poland
With a research stay at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam
2001–2004
BSc in Biotechnology
University of Wrocław, Poland
2024
Cell scientist to watch
Journal of Cell Science
Featured in the journal’s interview series
2023
ERC Consolidator Grant
European Research Council
MechanoFate: how mechanical forces coordinate development, €2 million over five years
2023–2027
Novo Nordisk Foundation data science grant
With the University of Southern Denmark, TU Munich and EMBL
MOPITAS: following single cells in time and space
2020–2022
Novo Nordisk Foundation Interdisciplinary Synergy grant
With the University of Southern Denmark
Engineering 3D-printed human skin
2011–2013
EMBO postdoctoral fellowship
European Molecular Biology Organization
How the neural tube closes in frog embryos
