Tina Mostrup Kousted: Neutralising a potentially important player in cancer and vascular diseases

During her PhD studies, Tina Mostrup Kousted worked with protease nexin-1 (PN-1), the role of which has not yet been clarified in normal physiological and disease-related processes. In recent years, PN-1 has received increasing attention due to its potential role in vascular diseases and cancer, which is often attributed to PN-1’s ability to inhibit key enzymes involved in processes such as blood coagulation, fibrinolysis and tissue remodelling.

In collaboration with researchers in Aarhus and Odense, Tina Mostrup Kousted developed and characterised molecular inhibitors of PN-1 in the form of monoclonal antibodies. Specific inhibitors of PN-1’s activity are important biochemical tools that enable future studies of PN-1’s role in normal physiological and disease-related processes. Tina Mostrup Kousted’s work also contributes to a wider understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which PN-1 can be inhibited, which can potentially be used to develop new therapeutic strategies aimed at PN-1 or similar proteins.

The PhD degree was completed at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Science and Technology, Aarhus University, funded by the Cancer Research Foundation of 1989.

Time: Monday 21 October 2013 at 13.00
Place: Meeting room A, Science Park, Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C
Title of dissertation: Inhibitory monoclonal antibodies against human protease nexin-1
Contact information: Tina Mostrup Kousted, tmk@mb.au.dk, +45 8715 4907
Members of the assessment committee:
Associate Professor Michael Toft Overgaard, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Aalborg University
Associate Professor Ann Gils, Laboratory for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Antibodies, Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
Professor Claus Oxvig (chair), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Professor Peter A. Andreasen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisor:
Associate Professor Jan K. Jensen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, 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.