Master Projects

We regularly take Masters-level students for research projects in the group and are always happy to hear from people who are interested in taking this route. Please contact Rosa Lopez ().

 

Projects in 2011

Exploring the industrial applications of lipid flippases (Sabrina Stanimirovic) The use of microorganisms in the biotechnological industry is widespread. Among others, they are used for production of enzymes (e.g. for detergents), for obtainment of flavouring and colouring agents for food production, and for fermentation of beer and wine. Once the production process is completed, it is necessary to separate the microorganism from the liquid phase containing the product. In many cases, this is achieved by causing cells to stick to each other and aggregate forming big clumps that will either float to the top or precipitate to the bottom of the container. This aggregation process, called flocculation, is extremely important in some industrial processes and can greatly influence product quality. P4-ATPases are proteins involved in transporting lipids between the two leaflets of cellular membranes. As a consequence of this, they modify the characteristics of the plasma membrane (permeability, flexibility, etc.). The objective of this project is to analyse the influence of P4-ATPase activity on yeast flocculation and its possible future industrial applications.
Developing a tool for analysing membrane protein interactions in the secretory pathway (Christian Have Lund) Yeast has been widely used as a host for the analysis of protein-protein interactions. The traditional Yeast-2-hybrid system, used for soluble proteins, has been extensively modified to be applied to other systems including membrane proteins (split-ubiquitin system). The split-ubiquitin system relays on the fact that the interacting proteins have the N- or C-terminal ends in the sytoplasm, so this method cannot be applied to proteins that naturally are targeted and interact in the lumen of the Golgi apparatus. The objective of this project is to develop a new tool for analysing this type of interaction. This project is a joint-venture with Yumiko Sakuragi at the section for Molecular Plant Biology.

 

Projects in 2010 

Understanding the secretory pathway: Elucidating the regulation of membrane pumps involved in lipid transport and vesicle biogenesis (Merethe Mørch Svendsen/Frøsig) The project aimed to determine whether plant P4-ATPases require interaction with kinases or phosphatases for their activity and to identify the proteins involved in this regulation. The project was supported by Novo Scholarship Program 2010.     Merethe Mørch Frøsig continued as PhD student in the flippase team in Section for Transport Biology.
Lipid Flippases: Linking lipid transport to vesicle formation (Maria Martina Ezcurida Koch) In this project the efforts focused on elucidating the role of the Arabidopsis thalianas P4-ATPases ALA2 in lipid transport and vesicle formation. Martina Koch continued as PhD student in Section for Glycobiology.