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Conversion of Porcine Fibroblast to Neuronal Cells: Production, Characterization and Utility
2020.10.06 |
| Date | Fri 23 Oct |
| Time | 13:00 — 15:00 |
| Location | Online via Zoom |
Friday 23 October at 13:00, Mette Habekost defends her PhD dissertation entitled “'Conversion of Porcine Fibroblast to Neuronal Cells: Production, Characterization and Utility”.
Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s disease are characterized by the death of neurons in specific brain areas. The underlying aetiologies are complex, and disease mechanisms involved in the initiation and progression of the disorders are difficult to study in human post-mortem tissues. Animal models are useful for this purpose, and a large animal, such as the pig, is an attractive model organism since it may recapitulate the phenotypes of the disorders authentically. The aim of this PhD project is to investigate neuromolecular phenotypes in the pigs and to produce neurons from skin-derived pig fibroblasts in vitro to further explore the molecular basis of AD. In this project, we build on current reprogramming strategies to turn the fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells or directly into induced neurons. Additionally, we examine whether the induced neurons recapitulate specific features of the adult pig brain. In the last aspect of the project, we use brain tissues and fibroblasts from genetically engineered pig models of AD to study cellular mechanisms and pathways that may contribute to the pathogenesis.
The summary is written by the PhD student.
The defence is public and will be held online via Zoom. Please read the attached press release for more information.
PhD student Mette Habekost
Mail: mhab@biomed.au.dk
Tel.: (+45) 40 47 31 01