Speaker: Prof. Alicia Lundby, Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen

Abstract:

Cardiac proteomics is the merging of two scientific disciplines: molecular cardiac physiology and high-resolution proteomics technology. In the interface between these two disciplines, novel mechanistic insight into molecular regulatory mechanisms of the heart can be achieved. Cardiac proteomics allows for unbiased investigations of protein and signaling changes taking place in cardiac tissue, and it is a scientific field spearheaded by the Lundby group.

In the Lundby group, cardiac proteomics is applied to gain molecular insights into regulatory processes in the heart. The efforts undertaken aim at uncovering a deep molecular understanding of the changes in hearts exposed to various perturbations, ultimately allowing us to identify novel pharmaceutical targets for cardiac disease intervention.

The application of high-resolution proteomics to investigate protein- and signaling regulation directly in cardiac tissue has opened a new avenue of molecular cardiac research. In recent years, proteomics method developments have been achieved that allow for in-depth investigations of the cardiac protein landscape. In the Lundby group, we exploit state-of-the-art proteomics technologies to pinpoint specific proteins and peptides crucial for proper cardiac function. Our proteomics-based strategies allow us to address fundamental questions on protein- and signaling regulation for all cardiac proteins in single experiments.

Bio:

Prof. Alicia Lundby is a Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. She did her B.Sc. in Physics and Biophysics at the Neils Bohr Institute (U Copenhagen) and received her Ph.D. from the Health Science department (U Copenhagen). Her post-doctoral work was performed at the Broad Institute (Prof. Mark Daly, MIT/Harvard) and the Center for Protein Research (Prof. Jesper Olsen, U Copenhagen). In 2015 she became an Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences (U Copenhagen) and was in 2020 promoted to Professor. She currently leads a research group of 11 researchers (Ph.D., postdocs, and assistant professors) focused on Cardiac Proteomics. She has received numerous awards, including the Women in Science award by L'Oreal (2013), the Carlsberg Foundation Distinguished Associate Professorship (2018), and the Hallas Møller Ascending Investigator Award (2020).

Host: Prof. Christian Froekjaer Jensen, KAUST