Kristina Pagh Sølvsten Friis: Development of new methods to retarget viral envelope proteins to be used for specific delivery of substances into cells

During the course of her PhD studies, Kristina Pagh Sølvsten Friis has researched various methods for retargeting of the viral envelope protein of a murine leukemia virus, SL3-2. New viral variants of SL3-2 have been created, one of which is able to infect through the human apelin receptor. Through her studies into targeting of the human apelin receptor, Kristina Pagh Sølvsten Friis has discovered new chimeric variants of the viral envelope protein. The interactions between the part of the protein responsible for binding to the receptor and the apelin receptor has Kristina Pagh Sølvsten Friis been investigating in the laboratory of Prof Catherine Llorens-Cortes at the College de France in Paris. The new research findings contributed to the understanding of how the virus interacts with the cellular receptor as well as how the chimeric virus adapts to the new molecular system over time. This knowledge is of significant interest in relation to designing new delivery pathways for for example chemotherapeutica.

The PhD degree was completed at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Science and Technology, AarhusUniversity.

Time: Tuesday 15 April 2014 at 14.00
Place: Merete Barker auditory, the lakeside auditories, Aarhus University
Title of dissertation: Targeting of the retroviral envelope protein SL3-2 towards the human G-protein coupled receptor hAPJ
Contact information: Kristina Pagh Sølvsten Friis, e-mail: kpsk@mb.au.dk, tlf.: + 45 28736385
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor emeritus Bodil Norrild, dr.sci, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Research Group Leader Carol Stocking, PhD, Heinrich Pette Institute, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, University of Hamburg, Germany
Associate professor Ernst-Martin Füchtbauer, PhD, (Chair), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark
Main supervisor:
Professor Finn Skou Pedersen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark
Co-supervisor:
Shervin Bahrami, PhD, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark
Language: The PhD 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.