Lundbeck Professorships for Løland and Kiehn

Professor Claus Juul Løland has received a Professorship grant of DKK 20,000,000 for his research project “Molecular Lego: Building the protein complex responsible for dopamine regulation”. His research team aims to map molecular mechanisms using a cryo-electron microscope — the world’s most powerful microscope. This instrument can map in great detail how the dopamine transporter interacts with other proteins inside the cell.

“If in this project we succeed in mapping the role of the dopamine transporter in dopamine release, we will have therapeutic targets that can be used to regulate the release of dopamine and thereby perhaps reduce the effect of cocaine,” says Claus Juul Løland.

“In principle, this could also allow regulation of addiction to other substances and stimuli that release dopamine and thus trigger reward in the brain — for example, gambling addiction, internet addiction, alcohol, and food.”

Professor Ole Kiehn has received a Professorship grant of DKK 39,091,459 for his project “Unravelling Brain-Wide Circuits for Movement”. He works on his research to understand how the interplay between neuronal networks in the central nervous system leads to movement.

Earlier, he uncovered the interaction between the neural circuits in the spinal cord and brainstem that control gait. In this project, he will move further up into the brain to examine how activity in the brain’s neuronal networks is integrated with commands from the brainstem.

Through experiments in mice, the researchers will investigate a series of complex, context-dependent movements and, using advanced techniques, attempt to understand how integrated activity in the neuronal networks governs these movements — both in healthy mice and in mice with movement disorders resembling Parkinson’s disease.

“We expect that our research will contribute fundamentally new knowledge about how movements are generated, which holds great potential for developing new treatment strategies for people with movement disorders,” says Ole Kiehn.

Read more:

• Denmark’s leading neuroscientists receive DKK 140 million for groundbreaking research
• LF Professorships (Lundbeck Foundation's webpage)

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