Dr. Kumsta earned her degree as a Diplom Biologist/M.Sc. and PhD from the Technical University of Munich, Germany and performed her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Ursula Jakob at the University of Michigan. Dr. Kumsta joined Sanford Burnham Prebys and the lab of Malene Hansen as a postdoctoral fellow in 2009. In 2018 Caroline was promoted to Research Assistant Professor and then to Assistant Professor in 2021. Dr. Kumsta’s research focuses on the role of autophagy in hormetic stress responses, aging, and neurodegeneration in C. elegans and human tissues.
Education and Training
2018-2021: Research Assistant Professor, Sanford Burnham Prebys
2016-2018: Staff Scientist, , Sanford Burnham Prebys
2009-2016: Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Malene Hansen, Sanford Burnham Prebys
2009: Postdoctoral Associate with Dr. Ursula Jakob, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
2005-2008: Doctor rerum naturalium (PhD) with Dr. Ursula Jakob, University of Michigan and Technical University of Munich
1999-2005: Diplom-Biologin Univ. (MS), Technical University of Munich, Germany
Honors and Awards
2024: R01 NIA: Hormetic regulation of autophagy in aging
2024: Selected as Member of Council of International Rising Stars (COIRS) of The Autophagy, Inflammation and Metabolism Center of Biomedical Research (NIH-funded AIM Center, University of New Mexico)
2023: P30 NIA: Pilot Grant, San Diego – Nathan Shock Center: Heterogeneity of autophagy during aging
2022: W.O.W. Award – For Wonderful Original Work, presented at the Annual Retreat of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Faculty
2022: NIA Fellow Award at 2022 Autophagy Gordon Research Conference
2015: Best Oral Presentation Prize, EMBO Workshop: The Regulation of Aging and Proteostasis
2013: AFAR Postdoctoral Fellowship: Transcriptional regulation of autophagy in promoting proteostasis upon hormetic stress
2013: Best Oral Presentation at the 12th Annual Poster Symposium at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
2011: Fishman Fund Career Development Award
2011: AACR Postdoctoral Fellowship: Translational Control of Tumor Formation in C. elegans