Frank Hauser

Associate professor

Universitetsparken 15
2100 København Ø
Telefon: 35 32 12 06
E-mail: fhauser@bio.ku.dk


Frank Hauser will be a good mentor for students with an interest in:
Cell biology, neurobiology, genomics


Profile
I'm interested in all aspects of molecular neurobiology with a special focus on neuropeptides, G protein-coupled receptors and their signal transduction. I studied chemistry at the University of Freiburg, Germany, did my Ph.D in biochemistry at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry in Martinsried and a post-doc in Hamburg, before I moved to Denmark in 1995. As a research scientist at Lundbeck, I was involved in the cloning and expression of many mammalian GPCRs that might be drug targets for the treatment of neurological or psychiatric diseases. My current research is concentrating on comparative genomics in the field of insect endocrinology. In our research group we identify neuropeptide perprohormones and G protein-coupled receptors from several insect genome data bases. We clone and express some of the new receptors in different cell lines and try to identify their endogenous ligands (often neuropeptides) using functional bioluminescence assays. Thereby, we discover new ligand-receptor pairs regulating development, reproduction or behavior of insects. This knowledge might be useful to develop more selective insecticides against agricultural pests or vectors of human diseases like malaria.