Blanca Aldana’s laboratory (NeuroMet) focuses on the study of brain energy and neurotransmitter metabolism and its impact on neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Presently, the investigations in NeuroMet take advantage of diverse brain-derived preparations including cell cultures of neurons and astrocytes, brain slices and cutting edge cell-based model systems such as hiPSC-brain cells and brain organoids, as well as high-output biochemical methodologies for dynamic metabolic mapping and for investigating bioenergetics. Two 6-credit research assistantship projects are offered, with 1-2 students per project.
Project 1: Dynamic mapping focusing on pathways relevant for energy metabolism in neurons and astrocytes in an Alzheimer’s disease model. In this project, you use techniques including brain cell culturing, 13C -labelled isotopes and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GCMS), as well as HPLC. You have the opportunity to work with a unique disease model, the 5xfAD mouse. This transgenic mouse harbors five different mutations found in patients with familial Alzheimer´s Disease and is increasingly being used as a research tool. The principle mentor will be Blanca Aldana, but you are also partnered with a lab technician.
Project 2: Dynamic mapping focusing on pathways relevant for energy metabolism in microglia from an Alzheimer’s disease model. In this project, you use techniques including microglia cell culturing, and diverse biochemical techniques such as 13C-subtrate incubations, GCMS, HPLC, Seahorse analyses to investigate energy and amino acid metabolism in microglia. You have the opportunity to work with a unique disease model, the 5xfAD mouse. This transgenic mouse harbors five different mutations found in patients with familial Alzheimer´s Disease, and is increasingly being used as a research tool. The principle mentor will be Blanca Aldana, but you are also partnered with a lab technician.
Research Assistantship Hours
You will spend 180 hours directly engaged in research, together with 20 hours in co-curricular activities, during your RAship.
Field Studies: Culture & Language
As a co-curricular complement to your summer research, you will meet every Wednesday, together with faculty from the DIS European Humanities program, for a 6-week introduction to culture and language in Copenhagen.
Research Mentor Publications
- Andersen, J. V., Westi, E. W., Neal, E. S., Aldana, B. I., & Borges, K. (2023). β-Hydroxybutyrate and Medium-Chain Fatty Acids are Metabolized by Different Cell Types in Mouse Cerebral Cortex Slices. Neurochemical Research, 48(1), 54–61.
- Duwe, L., Munoz-Garrido, P., Lewinska, M., Lafuente-Barquero, J., Satriano, L., Høgdall, D., Taranta, A., Nielsen, B. S., Ghazal, A., Matter, M. S., Banales, J. M., Aldana, B. I., Gao, Y. T., Marquardt, J. U., Roberts, L. R., Oliveira, R. C., Koshiol, J., O’Rourke, C. J., & Andersen, J. B. (2023). MicroRNA-27a-3p targets FoxO signalling to induce tumour-like phenotypes in bile duct cells. Journal of Hepatology, 78(2), 364–375.
Related Discipline(s)
This summer course would also be of interest to the following discipline(s):Chemistry / Biochemistry
