Biocomplexity Group, NBI (Mogens H. Jensen - Speaker): The
Biocomplexity group (see Theoretical Modelling and Computer Models of life - CMOL) has through more than ten years been
pioneering studies of complex systems on a number of different research
topics, ranging from chaotic and fractal phenomena to cell mechanics and
genetic networks. The group was previously connected with the Center for
Chaos and Turbulence Studies" (CATS) and members of this center have
contributed with some of the most important and mostly cited discoveries
within complex systems research. Through the last five years, the main
focus in the research activity has shifted towards topics in biological
physics. Through a very active recruitment plan by the Niels Bohr
Institute, the group has recently been signicantly strengthened on the
biological side through employment of three new associate professors, Kim
Sneppen in theoretical biological physics, and Lene Oddershede and Thomas
Heimburg (Membrane Biophysics Group) in experimental
biophysics. In 2003, three new laboratories at the Niels Bohr Institute
have been renovated with the specific allocation of experimental research
in biophysics. Altogether, the group consists of around 25 researchers and
graduate students and among these scientists, the majority is involved in
biophysics research. This new profile of the group, with three new and very
promising associate professors in biophysics and a large group of
biophysical research students, gives a perfect platform for the group to
play an essential and very active role in the proposed VKR Center for
Biophysics. On the theoretical side, the group has an international
reputation on research in modelling of biological systems, ranging from
evolution of species to the complicated dynamical network between
interacting proteins in a cell. It is envisaged that modelling of
biological systems will be a main activity in the proposed center. The
group thus plays an essential role in all of the five main research themes
of the VKR Center for Biophysics, with the main emphasis from the
experimental point of view on Biological membranes and lipid bilayers, and
Single-molecule biophysics, and from the theoretical point of view on
Folding and transport of proteins and Biological information- and control
networks.
MEMPHYS -
Center for Biomembrane Physics, SDU (Ole G. Mouritsen - coordinator):
The MEMPHYS group (see www.memphys.sdu.dk) has for more than ten years
been a leading biophysics group in Denmark. From its beginning, and with
solid roots in statistical physics, soft-condensed matter physics, and
computational physics, this group has specialized into the physics and
physical chemistry of biological membranes, and how membranes interact with
proteins, enzymes, drugs, and other solutes. The group has made important
discoveries concerning the e¨ect of cholesterol on membranes, the
interaction between integral membrane proteins and lipid bilayers, as well
as the action of phospholipases on lipid membranes. Some of the research of
the group has formed the business idea behind LiPlasome Pharma A/S, an
innovation company that works on a new liposome-based system for targeted
drug delivery in cancer therapy. The group, which counts 25-30 researchers
and research students carries out a parallel experimental and theoretical
research program using a number of different theoretical and simulational
methods and an arsenal of different experimental techniques. The group has
over the years been supported by a number of Danish and international
public as well as private founding agencies and since 2002 by the Danish
National Research Foundation. The director of the group is also director of
the National Graduate Proposal for a VKR Center of Excellence 7 School of
Molecular Biophysics that covers all major biophysics programs in Denmark.
The group has in-house state-of-the-art instrumentation for experiments and
computations within biophysics as well as access to nearby facilities for
live-cell biological and biochemical experiments. The group o¨ers itself as
part of the platform for the proposed center. The new area of research
which a new grant will open up for the group has been chosen to be
biogenesis and sub-cellular dynamics. It is believed that this new area
will provide maximal synergy in the network and to constitute the best way
of exploiting the expertise currently present in MEMPHYS (Dr. Matthias
Weiss). Although not directly receiving center support for it, the MEMPHYS
group is actively engaged in several of the other main research themes of
the Center, specifically Folding and transport of proteins, Biological
membranes and lipid bilayers, and Single-molecule biophysics.
The
Biophysics Group, AAU (Daniel Otzen - coordinator): The
foundation of the group is long experience within folding and stability of
water-soluble proteins, based on Daniel Otzen's sojourn with one of the
world leaders within protein folding (Alan Fersht, Cambridge, UK). Since
the inception of the group in 2000, it has focused on three bacterial
membrane proteins and their biophysical properties in lipids and
detergents. The group has been able to bring to light to fundamental
aspects of the proteins' folding patterns, which are being extended by
extensive mutagenesis studies. The group also has extensive knowledge of
the kinetics of interactions between water-soluble proteins with
detergents, which provides a basis for a deeper understanding of membrane
proteins' absolute requirement for amphiphiles. The group also works with
fibrillation and other types of misfolding of physiologically relevant
proteins. The group has introduced and exemplified the concept of gatekeeper
residues as key players in the fibrillation process, a concept which is
receiving increasing attention in the fibrillation field. Together with
Assistant Professor Reinhard Wimmer, the group is using NMR to study the
structure of membrane proteins and fibrils. The group is supported by the
Danish Research Councils and the Lundbeck Foundation and is also
collaborating with Novo Nordisk A/S and Leo-Pharma A/S (co-ønanced
PhD-stipends). Daniel Otzen heads AAU's doctoral school of biotechnology,
and collaborates closely with the Graduate School of Molecular Biophysics
and other schools of biotechnology in order to bolster the scientiøc
environment for PhD-students in Denmark. The VKR Center for Biophysics
expected to stimulate the group's research within: (i) Protein- protein and
protein-amphiphile interactions stabilizing membrane proteins (based on
studies of fragment association and force-pulling studies). (ii) Factors
defining membrane protein identity, i.e. how is a membrane protein turned
into a water-soluble protein. (iii) The relationship between in vivo
misfolding of membrane proteins and their in vitro properties, using human
aquaporin 2 as a model system.