Mette Høiberg Ozol: Mechanistic studies of a protein important for the salt balance of the body

The sodium potassium pump (grey oval) is situated in the cell membrane. In the upper part of the figure the pump has three sodium ions bound and these are released going to the bottom part of the figure. The fluorophore (green and blue light bulb) change color as the sodium ions are released because the area near it is changing.

18 December 2019 by Lisbeth Heilesen

The sodium potassium pump is extremely important for the salt balance of the body and does among other ensure the right conditions for neurons to function. With this PhD project we have investigated details of how this molecular pump works. The pump transport ions and these can in the laboratory be observed as a very small electric current, but we are more interested in what the protein does in order to perform the ion transport. We have therefore equipped the pump with a fluorophore – a luminescent molecule. The pump is too small for us to see it, but we can see the light from the fluorophore and this will change if the pump moves. We can therefore describe which movements occur in the pump as the ions are transported.

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

This résumé was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Thursday 18 December 2019 at 13.15
Place: Building 1532, room 116, Auditorium G1, Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 118, 8000 Aarhus C
Title of PhD thesis: Voltage clamp fluorometry of the sodium/potassium ATPase using the environmentally sensitive fluorescent unnatural amino acid Anap
Contact information: Mette Ozol, e-mail: ozol@dandrite.au.dk, tlf.: +45 51342980
Members of the assessment committee:
Associate Professor Stephan Pless, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Assistant Professor Jan Koenderink, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Netherlands
Associate Professor Charlotte Rohde Knudsen, Department of Molecular biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Professor Poul Nissen, Department of Molecular biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisor:
Associate Professor Hanne Poulsen, Department of Molecular biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Language: Ph.d.-afhandlingen forsvares på engelsk

The defence is public.

The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Science and Technology/GSST, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, 8000 Aarhus C.