10. november 2021

Independent Research Fund Denmark: Inge Lehmann grant to Henriette Autzen

Funding

110 mDKK from the Independent Research Fund Denmark has just been implemented for 39 talented researchers in Denmark. One of the programs is given to Henriette E. Autzen, Department of Biology. The purpose of the program is to strengthen the talent development and promote a more equal gender composition of the research environments in Denmark.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Henriette E. Autzen, Department of Biology, who has received app 3 mDKK through the Inge Lehmann program from the Danish Independent Research Foundation to the project: 'Structure and function of NHE6: The subcellular shipping lane in the brain'

Henriette receives the grant from the Inge Lehmann programme along with 37 other women and 1 man. 

portrait

Henriette E. Autzen is an Associate Professor in the Section for Biomolecular Sciences at the Department of Biology, where she leads a small team of students and postdocs. Henriette, who established herself as a group leader at BIO early 2020, specializes in production, purification and structural characterization of mammalian membrane proteins involved in various physiological processes important for human health. Her lab uses mammalian expression and employs single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) in combination with biochemical, biophysical, and pharmacological methods for structural and functional characterizations.

About the project: Like a fast-paced and interconnected highway, the endosomal trafficking system covers vast expanses inside our cells, ensuring cargo is transported from the plasma membrane to the lysosome or recycled and transported back to the cell surface. The Na+/H+ exchanger 6 (NHE6) is a secondary active transporter localized in the brain, where it regulates the endosomal luminal pH ensuring trafficking to be on schedule. Mutations of NHE6 is linked to severe endosomal abnormalities and debilitating neurodegeneration, however, without a high-resolution structure, its exact mode of action remains unknown. This project aims at advancing our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying pH regulation in the endosomal trafficking system by using single particle cryo electron microscopy and molecular biology to study NHE6. The project is pivotal for structural understanding of NHE6 and related proteins, which play pivotal roles in human physiology and are linked to a plethora of diseases.

The Inge Lehmann program aims to promote more gender equality in research environments in Denmark. Read the press release from the Danish Independent Research Foundation here (in Danish).