Rasmus Kock Flygaard: Regulation of protein synthesis – mechanisms essential to bacterial as well as human life
PhD defence, Friday 21 September 2018, Rasmus Kock Flygaard.
During his studies, Rasmus Kock Flygaard investigated structures of complexes involved in regulation of protein synthesis in both bacterial and human cells. As synthesis of new proteins is a very energy consuming process, cells need the ability to regulate this process, either to conserve energy for survival during times of stress or to control timing and expression levels of specific proteins. Rasmus Kock Flygaard has determined structures of a ribosome dimer from the bacterium Thermus thermophilus and used these structures to analyse how the ribosomes are inactivated and prevented from synthesising new proteins. Furthermore, he has characterized the structure of the human RISC-Loading Complex and investigated the activity of the complex under various conditions.
The novelty of this research is primarily to provide a detailed understanding of the inactivation of bacterial ribosomes by the dimerization mechanism. Secondly, from the results obtained on the human RISC-Loading Complex, a new model is proposed for the activity of the complex in regulation of protein synthesis.
The PhD degree was completed at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University.
This résumé was prepared by the PhD student.
Time: Friday 21 September 2018 at 14:15
Place: Building 1532, room 116, Lecture Theatre G1, Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 118, 8000 Aarhus C.
Title of PhD thesis: Structural Studies of Prokayrotic and Eukaryotic Complexes Involved in Regulation of Translation
Contact information: Rasmus Kock Flygaard, e-mail: rasmuskf@mbg.au.dk, tel.: +45 25117806
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor Guillermo Montoya, Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Professor Daniel Wilson, Institut für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie, Universität Hamburg, Germany
Senior Researcher Jan Trige Rasmussen (chair), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Associated Professor Ditlev E. Brodersen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisor:
Dr. Lasse Jenner, Integrated Structural Biology, IGBMC, France
Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English
The defence is public.
The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Science and Technology/GSST, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1520, rooms 128-134, 8000 Aarhus C.