It is well known that too much blood cholesterol is one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease. In addition, cholesterol is an important component of all cells and needed to facilitate many cellular functions in the body. Therefore, studies on cholesterol uptake are of great interest, as more knowledge about the uptake has a direct impact on many aspects of lipid research and metabolic research.

“My research group has been studying this topic over the past five years with both Danish and international research colleagues, and a few months ago we published results where we worked out a new model for how cholesterol is integrated and incorporated. This new model has the potential to fundamentally change our prior understanding of the process,” says Bjørn Panyella Pedersen.

"With the new grant we can continue our work on this model, and the proposal that has now been funded by the Carlsberg Foundation aims to test new ideas for how cholesterol is further reshuffled from the lysosomal membrane to other cellular membranes. The funding will allow us to continue our work in a new direction for the next three years at the forefront of global research into membranes and lipids,” Bjørn Panyella Pedersen concludes.

Read more about the research in the news article Rethinking how cholesterol is integrated into cells.