Postdoctoral Researcher · Cancer Center Amsterdam
Studying extracellular vesicle biology at the intersection of metabolic disease and cancer — from adipose–pancreas communication to tumour immune modulation.
Department of Pathology · Amsterdam UMC · Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Konxhe Kulaj is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Pathology, Cancer Center Amsterdam (Amsterdam UMC / Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), where she investigates cancer extracellular vesicles and immune modulation.
She completed her PhD in Experimental Medicine at the Technische Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München in January 2024, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Kerstin Stemmer at the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity. Her doctoral research centred on adipocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (AdEVs) as inter-organ communicators in obesity and metabolic disease — culminating in a co-first-author publication in Nature Communications demonstrating that AdEVs from obese adipose tissue augment pancreatic β-cell insulin secretion by transferring insulinotropic protein cargo.
Prior to her doctorate, she held a Master's degree in Biology from the University of Konstanz and completed a five-year Biology Diploma at the University of Patras, Greece. An early research internship at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Verona, introduced her to experimental laboratory science.
Her work spans proteomics, cell biology, mouse models of metabolic disease, and, increasingly, tumour immunology. She is a member of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) and contributed as a consortium member to the MISEV2023 guidelines.
Doctoral research demonstrating that AdEVs from obese mice selectively transfer insulinotropic proteins to pancreatic β-cells, augmenting GPCR/cAMP/PKA signalling and amplifying glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Published in Nature Communications (2023).
Postdoctoral programme at Cancer Center Amsterdam investigating how EVs shape the tumour microenvironment. Current work includes monocyte–myeloma mitochondrial transfer via CD38–CD31 interactions, with therapeutic implications for daratumumab resistance.
Consortium member contributing to the ISEV MISEV2023 international guidelines — now cited over 3,700 times — establishing minimal information standards for extracellular vesicle research worldwide.
The arc from metabolic disease to oncology reflects EV biology as a unifying lens across pathologies. Open to collaborations spanning obesity–cancer crosstalk, EV biomarker discovery, and therapeutic targeting of EV-mediated intercellular communication.
Using fluorescence AdEV tracing, SILAC labelling, and (phospho)proteomics, this study demonstrated that adipocyte-derived extracellular vesicles from obese mice transfer functional insulinotropic protein cargo to pancreatic β-cells. This cargo augments GPCR/cAMP/PKA signalling, enhances first-phase glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, and improves glucose tolerance in vivo — establishing AdEVs as mediators of adipose–pancreas inter-organ communication in metabolic disease.
This doctoral thesis explores how adipocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (AdEVs) participate in inter-organ communication between adipose tissue and the endocrine pancreas in the context of obesity and metabolic disease. By combining fluorescence-based vesicle tracing, SILAC proteomics, and phosphoproteomic profiling, the work characterises the protein cargo of AdEVs from lean and obese mice and demonstrates that obese-derived AdEVs selectively augment insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells — a capacity linked to their distinct insulinotropic protein content.
TUM Repository ↗Dept. of Pathology, Cancer Center Amsterdam · Amsterdam UMC · VU Amsterdam
Investigating cancer extracellular vesicles and tumour immune modulation. Co-authored HemaSphere 2026 study on monocyte–myeloma metabolic rewiring via CD38–CD31 interactions.
Profile ↗IDO, Helmholtz Zentrum München · DZD · University of Augsburg
PhD under Prof. Dr. Kerstin Stemmer. Led proteomics-driven characterisation of AdEV cargo and inter-organ communication. Co-first author in Nature Communications. Contributed to GIP and GLP-1 conjugate studies.
Dept. of Neuroscience, University of Verona · Italy
Technische Universität München · Helmholtz Zentrum München
Awarded 26 January 2024. Thesis: Adipocyte-derived Extracellular Vesicles in Metabolic Disease.
University of Konstanz · Germany
University of Patras · Greece
1st MOVE Symposium · Málaga, Spain
"White AdEVs as stimulants for insulin secretion in early-stage prediabetes"
Conference report ↗International Society for Extracellular Vesicles
Contributing author on MISEV2023 guidelines (>3,700 citations).
I welcome correspondence about collaborative research, scientific exchange, and academic enquiries.
"Extracellular vesicles can be compared to Trojan horses that transport proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids to a target tissue for release." — Konxhe Kulaj, DZD Press Release, 2023
