Canan Do?anl?: Development of zebrafish disease models – new prospects for migraine and dystonia patients

Migraine and dystonia are two neurological disorders with high prevalence all over the world. Malfunction of a cellular membrane pump is responsible for two rare subtypes of these common disorders – familial hemiplegic migraine type 2 (FHM2) and rapid-onset dystonia Parkinsonism (RDP).

During the course of her PhD studies, Canan Do?anl? researched variants of this causative membrane pump in zebrafish, which has evolved as an excellent model system particularly for studying neurological disorders. Her results show that this membrane pump is important for normal functioning of skeletal and heart muscle, and also neuronal excitability in zebrafish, sharing highly comparable properties with its mammalian counterparts and relating to the symptoms observed in patients suffering from FHM2 or RDP.

The new research findings contribute to the understanding of FHM2 and RDP pathophysiology and propose zebrafish as a potential model to use during the early stages of drug development. In the long term, they could be used for screenings of treatment for migraine and dystonia.

The PhD degree was completed at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and the Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, and the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado, USA.

Time: Tuesday 20 November 2012 at 13.00
Place: Lecture Theatre 6, building 1170, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University
Title of dissertation: Development of zebrafish models for two neurological disorders: familial hemiplegic migraine type 2 and rapid-onset dystonia Parkinsonism
Contact information: Canan Do?anl?, cdo@mb.au.dk, +45 8716 7053/5058 0480
Members of the assessment committee:
Associate Professor Jan Koenderink, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Netherlands
Associate Professor Nanna MacAulay, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen
Professor Ernst-Martin Füchtbauer (chair), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Professor Claus Oxvig, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisor:
Associate Professor Karin Lykke-Hartmann, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University
Language: The dissertation will be defended in English

The defence is public.
The dissertation is available for reading at the Graduate School of Science and Technology/GSST, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, room 112, 8000 Aarhus C.