During her PhD studies, Louise Lind Skov worked on using the zebrafish as a model for human heart disease. The zebrafish is a relatively new model organism for human disease and it has many advantages. These include the easy introduction of mutations into zebrafish embryos and the fact that the fish is transparent throughout its early development, enabling studies of the beating heart without surgery.

Louise Lind Skov studied the effect of introducing six different mutations in the protein lamin A/C, and showed that the expression of these mutations in the zebrafish embryo resulted in a thickening of the heart tissue called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. She also studied the effect of introducing two mutations in a different protein – calmodulin – which resulted in zebrafish embryos displaying adrenaline-stimulated tachycardia. The results achieved in this study contribute to determining a causal relationship between the mutations discovered in patients and the symptoms seen in both zebrafish and patients.

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

Time: Monday 1 December 2014 at 13.00
Place: Lecture Theatre G1, building 1532, room 116, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116
Title of dissertation: The zebrafish as a model for human heart disease
Contact information: Louise Lind Skov, lls@mb.au.dk, +45 2091 6006
Members of the assessment committee:
Consultant Physician Henning Bundgaard, Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet)
Associate Professor Jonas von Hofsten, Umeå Centre for Molecular Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden
Associate Professor Ditlev Brodersen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Professor Claus Oxvig, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisor:
Dr Michael Christiansen, National Serum Institute (SSI), Copenhagen
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.