CMBN researcher Linda H Bergersen publishes in Nature on the mechanism of white matter vulnerability
[Announced 22 December 2005]

The myelinating processes of oligodendrocytes (needed by nerve fibres to conduct at high speed) are shown to have a class of glutamate receptors previously thought to be confined to neurons: NMDA receptors make cells 'learn' but can kill them if getting out of control.

Ragnhildur Káradóttir, Pauline Cavelier, Linda H. Bergersen and David Attwell (2005) NMDA receptors are expressed in oligodendrocytes and activated in ischaemia. Nature, 438, 1162-1167.
First paragraph | Full text | PDF | Supplementary information

See also:
Editor's summary
Article in UNIFORUM
News from Science's STKE

Hua Hu's PhD defense
[Announced 13 December 2005]

Hua Hu, MD, will defend his PhD dissertation with the title

Functions of Ca²⁺-activated and KCNQ/M-type potassium channels in the brain

on Thursday 15 December 2005 at 1015 in New auditorium 13, Domus Medica, University of Oslo.

The trial lecture with the title

KCNQ (Kv7) potassium channels and medicine: clinical and therapeutic significance

will be held on Wednesday 14 December 2005 at 1415, also in New auditorium 13, Domus Medica, University of Oslo.

Further information.

Juris Allunans' PhD defense
[Announced 13 December 2005]

Cand.real. Juris Allunans, will defend his PhD dissertation with the title

Bacteriocinogeny in Neisseria meningitidis isolates associated with the epidemic starting in North Norway in the mid-1970's

on Monday 19 December 2005 at 1015 in the Blue auditorium, Rikshospitalet.

The trial lecture with the title

Bacteriocins of Gram-positive bacteria

will be held on Wednesday 14 December 2005 at 1400 in Auditorium A3.3067, Rikshospitalet.

Further information.

Guest lecture by David Brown
[Announced 13 December 2005]

Professor David Brown, Department of Pharmacology, University College, London, will give a guest lecture on Friday 16 December 2005 at 13.30 at the Department of Physiology, IMB, Domus Medica, with the title:

K(M) to KCNQ to Kv7: twenty-five years in the life of a potassium channel

Twenty-five years ago, David Brown and Paul Adams discovered a novel voltage-sensitive potassium current: the M-current. They found that, unlike previously described K⁺ currents, the M-current was regulated by neurotransmitters, thus mediating a new type of synaptic transmission. Since then, a family of M-like channels has been identified, and mutations in these channels have been found to underlie several kinds of hereditary human disease: epilepsy, cardiac arrhythmia, deafness, etc. In his talk, Prof. David Brown will review the development of this exciting field of research.

MedCoast Symposium – Neuroscience and metabolism
[Announced 1 November 2005]

The MedCoast Symposium is arranged on Friday 4 November as part of ScanBalt Forum 2005. It will take place in the Main Auditorium at Rikshospitalet.

A major scientific event in the ScanBalt Forum is a plenary symposium in Neuroscience and Metabolic Disorders. This unique meeting has world leading scientists, including two Nobel Laureates, Arvid Carlsson (see image) and Peter Agre and a presentation of the latest findings in molecular biology.

This symposium will discuss new hypothesis and findings about synaptic functions and brain water balance. The metabolic Syndrome will be discussed in light of new findings in molecular biology, and the importance of conditions in pregnacy and early life for later development of metabolic disorders (Obesity, diabetes and heart disease) will be disussed.

Full Program for Friday. See also the EMBIO announcement.

Guest lecture by Peter Roepstorff
[Announced 3 October 2005]

Professor in protein chemistry, Peter Roepstorff, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, will give a guest lecture on Wednesday 26 October 2005 at 13.00 in the lunch room (1330), Department of Anatomy, Domus Medica, with the title:

Mass spectrometry in proteomics, studies of protein modification and interaction

With water on the mind
[Announced 23 September 2005]

Dagbladet Magasinet wrote about CMBN research on brain water channels on Saturday 10 September 2005.

Vacant position as Director of Research and Professor II
[Announced 9September2005]

The position as Director of Research and Professor II at the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet HF and the University of Oslo is now vacant. The application deadline is 1 November 2005. For details, please see:

• Advertisement in Nature (PDF)
• Announcement from the University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine

Guest lecture by Ryuichi Shigemoto
[Announced 9 September2005]

Ryuichi Shigemoto will give a guest lecture on Wednesday 28 September 2005 at 14.00-16.00 in the lunch room (1330), Department of Anatomy, Domus Medica, with the title:

High resolution and quantitative localization of membrane proteins by SDS freeze-fracture replica labeling

Guest lecture by Marianne Fyhn
[Announced 8 September2005]

Postdoc Marianne Fyhn, Centre for the Biology of Memory, NTNU, Trondheim, will give a guest lecture on Monday 12 September 2005 at 10.00 in the lunch room (1330), Department of Anatomy, Domus Medica, with the title:

Spatial representation in the entorhinal cortex - the discovery of grid cells

The Centre for the Biology of Memory, which is lead by Professors May-Britt and Edvard Moser, brings together internationally leading neuroscientists. The goal is to investigate how neuronal ensembles in the hippocampus and neocortex give rise to specific memory operations such as encoding, storage, consolidation and retrieval.

The work of Fyhn focuses on the entorhinal cortex, which gives the main cortical input to the hippocampus. The work has received a lot of attention both nationally and internationally, and the discovery of "grid cells" which comprise a neural map of the spatial environment will appear in neuroscience textbooks. The discovery of 'grid cells' opens up many avenues of enquiry about the computations underlying our sense of place, and how the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex contribute to episodic memory.

Publication on siRNA specificity
[Announced 24 August 2005]

RNA interference (RNAi) has become an invaluable tool for functional
genomics and holds promise as a novel principle for drug development. A
CMBN collaborative study has revealed that wobble mutations in siRNA
decrease specificity – but can enhance activity in vivo. The work has been
published in Nucleic Acids Research.

Holen T, Moe SE, Sørbø JG, Meza TJ, Ottersen OP and Klungland A (2005) Tolerated wobble mutations in siRNAs decrease specificity, but can enhance activity in vivo, Nucleic Acids Research, 33, 4704-4710.
PubMed | Abstract | Full text | PDF

- A kind of Google for genes
[Announced 19 August 2005]

The CMBN Bioinformatics group has recently launched the PARALIGN web service for rapid and accurate searches in genetic sequence databases. The work has been published in Nucleic Acids Research and covered by forskning.no. The service is freely available.

Sæbø PE, Andersen SM, Myrseth J, Lærdahl JK and Rognes T (2005) PARALIGN: Rapid and sensitive sequence similarity searches powered by parallell computing technology, Nucleic Acids Research, 33, Suppl. 2, W535-W538.
PubMed | Abstract | Full text | PDF

- En slags Google for gener. forskning.no. 3 July 2005.

Guest lecture by Shankar Subramaniam
[Announced 12 August 2005]

Professor Shankar Subramaniam, University of California at San Diego & San Diego Supercomputing Center, will give a guest lecture on Tuesday 16 August 2005 at 12.00 in Auditorium A3.3067, Rikshospitalet, with the title:

From Transcriptome to Phenotypes in Mammalian Biology

Cells and tissues function in context. Under a given growth or survival medium they perform tasks, replicate and die. Given a stimulus they respond by invoking myriad biomolecular networks that result in a specified cellular outcome. At any given instant it can be argued that the cell is in a “state” defined by its components – their concentrations and locations, the interactions between components – that are modulated in space and time, and the complex circuitry – that involves a large number of interacting networks and a snapshot of the dynamical processes – such as gene expression, cell cycle, transport of components, etc. The manifestation of these processes is a phenotype such as a disease. How can we reconstruct the circuitry of the cell to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the phenotype from measurements of cellular constituents? This talk will address new methods for mapping genotypes to phenotypes and illustrate the power of these methods for studying insulin resistance in humans.

Guest lecture by Kader Thiam
[Announced 8 August 2005]

Dr Kader Thiam, Genoway, Lyon, France, will give a guest lecture on Thursday 18 August 2005 at 14.30 in Auditorium A3.3067, Rikshospitalet, with the title:

Use of genetically modified rodents for gene validation -
New approaches for time saving and models of higher relevancy

Tonje Davidsen's PhD defense
[Announced 21 June 2005]

Cand.scient. Tonje Davidsen will defend her PhD dissertation with the title

Genome instability and maintenance in Neisseria meningitidis

on Thursday 23 June 2005 at 1015 in Gamle Festsal, Universitetet i Oslo.

The trial lecture with the title

The biological basis of adaptation of Neisseria meningitidis

will be held on Wednesday 22 June 2005 at 1300 in Auditorium A3.3067 at Rikshospitalet.

Further information.

Guest lecture by Richard Moxon
[Announced 21 June 2005]

Professor Richard Moxon, Molecular infectious group, Department of Pediatrics, University of Oxford, UK, will give a guest lecture on Wednesday 22 June 2005 at 14.30 in Auditorium A3.3067, Rikshospitalet, with the title:

Reflections on the biology of Haemophilus influenzae: its commensal and pathogenic behaviour

Guest lecture by Marit Otterlei
[Announced 21 June 2005]

Professor Marit Otterlei, Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), will give a guest lecture on Wednesday 22 June 2005 at 15.15 in Auditorium A3.3067, Rikshospitalet, with the title:

In vivo dynamics and functional BER and SSBR analysis of isolated XRCC1-EYFP complexes

Guest lecture by John Davies
[Announced 30 May 2005]

Professor John Davies, Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Victoria, Australia, will give a guest lecture on Thursday 2 June 2005 at 11.00 in Auditorium A3.3067, Rikshospitalet, with the title:

Transcription profiling of two very different bacterial pathogens:
Mycobacterium ulcerans and Neisseria gonorrhoea

CMBN research on the worlds strongest molecular motor published in Molecular Microbiology
[Announced 26 May 2005]

The extrusion and retraction of bacterial surface filaments termed pili constitute a robust motility mechanism that generate the largest force of any known single molecular motor. Using Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the agent of gonorrhea) as a model system, CMBN researchers and collaborators have identified a family of five proteins that are required for pilus function and act as "gears" in the pilus motor. The discovery may lead to new methods to control infectious diseases and to the development of unique biological nanomotors.

Winther-Larsen HC, Wolfgang M, Dunham S, van Putten JP, Dorward D, Løvold C, Aas FE, Koomey M (2005) A conserved set of pilin-like molecules controls type IV pilus dynamics and organelle-associated functions in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Mol Microbiol., 56, 903-917.
PubMed | Abstract | Full text | PDF

CMBN research on carbonic anhydrase published in PNAS
[Announced 20 May 2005]

CMBN researchers have identified the enzyme that catalyses the hydration
of carbon dioxide in retinal glial cells and pigment epithelium. The
discovery might lead to improved treatment of macular edema.

Nagelhus EA , Mathisen TM, Bateman AC, Haug F-M, Ottersen OP, Grubb JH, Waheed A, Sly WS (2005) Carbonic anhydrase XIV is enriched in specific membrane domains of retinal pigment epithelium, Müller cells, and astrocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.
PubMed | Abstract | PDF

Guest lecture by Peter Agre
[Announced 13 May 2005]

Professor Peter Agre, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, USA (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2003), will give a guest lecture on Wednesday 18 May 2005 at 10.00 in Store Auditorium, Rikshospitalet, with the title:

Water transport and aquaporins: from molecules to medicine

The lecture is part of the WIRED symposium on "Transport processes in the CNS: Emerging concepts".

Guest lecture by Bert Sakmann
[Announced 13 May 2005]

Professor Bert Sakmann, Max-Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1991), will give a guest lecture on Friday 20 May 2005 at 14.00 in Store Auditorium, Rikshospitalet, with the title:

Cortical microcircuits in rat cortex and sparse coding of sensory representation

The lecture is part of the WIRED symposium on "Transport processes in the CNS: Emerging concepts".

WIRED-symposium, 18-24 May 2005
[Announced 13 May 2005]

The WIRED symposium on Transport processes in the CNS:
Emerging concepts will be arranged 18-24 May 2005.

CMBN team runs Holmenkollstafetten 2005
[Announced 12 May 2004]

The CMBN team ran Holmenkollstafetten in 67 minutes 56 seconds and secured a fantastic 9rd place out of 77 teams in its class. The participants were very satisfied with the result and celebrated the victory Saturday night.

Postdoctoral position available
[Announced 9 May 2005]

A postdoctoral position in protein biochemistry and astrocyte biology is available in the Laboratory for Molecular Neuroscience, CMBN.

Further information.

Elisabeth Larsen's PhD defense
[Announced 19 April 2005]

Cand.scient. Elisabeth Larsen will defend her PhD dissertation with the title

Mouse models for flap endonuclease (FEN1) and 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (OGG1) deficiency

on Thursday 21 April 2005 at 0900 in Universitetets aula, Midtbygningen, Karl Johans gate 47.

The trial lecture with the title

Repair of double strand breaks in DNA. Roles in the prevention of cancer.

will be held on Wednesday 20 April 2005 at 1300 in Auditorium A3.3067 at Rikshospitalet.

Further information.

CMBN Annual Report 2004
[Announced 14 April 2005]

CMBN's annual report for 2004 is a now available. Download the PDF version or contact the CMBN administration for a printed version.

Guest lecture by Mikael Nilsson
[Announced 3 April 2005]

Associate professor Michael Nilsson, Göteborg University, will give a guest lecture on Monday 4 April 2005 at 14.00 in new auditorium 13, Domus Medica, with the title:

Astrocytes - integral players in neuroplasticity

New Assistant director and new Group leader appointed
[Announced 21 March 2005]

Professor Tone Tønjum has been appointed Assistant director of CMBN. For more information about the research in her group, see the Tønjum group page. Magnar Bjørås has been appointed Group leader of CMBN. For more information about the research in his group, see the Bjørås group page. Both positions were formerly held by Erling Seeberg.

CMBN research on DNA repair in HIV patients published
[Announced 22 February 2005]

CMBN researchers and co-workers have published a paper in Blood about their work on repair of oxidative DNA damage in HIV infection.

Aukrust P, Luna L, Ueland T, Johansen RF, Muller F, Froland SS, Seeberg EC, Bjoras M (2005) Impaired base excision repair and accumulation of oxidative base lesions in CD4⁺ T cells of HIV-infected patients. Blood. Prepublication.
PubMed | Abstract | PDF

See also the comment in Science.

Three STORFORSK grants to CMBN associated scientists
[Announced 21 February 2005]

Three of the STORFORSK grants from the Research Council of Norway were awarded to groups associated with CMBN. Johan F Storm is project leader for "Multilevel analysis of memory formation in the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit", Michael Koomey is project leader for "Unique post-translational modifications in a prokaryotic model system", while Ole Petter Ottersen is project leader for "Physiology and pathophysiology at the brain-blood interface: prospects for new therapy". See also the Press release from the Research Council of Norway, and the article in Uniforum.

Lundbeck Foundation Nordic Research Award 2005 to Ottersen and Storm-Mathisen
[Announced 12 February 2005]

CMBN Professors Ole Petter Ottersen and Jon Storm-Mathisen will be given the Lundbeck Foundation Nordic Research Award 2005 of 1,5 million danish kroner for their effort in neuroscience research.

See also the article in Aftenposten and the article in Uniforum.

Open position as chief engineer, PET Unit
[Announced 9 February 2005]

Click here for the full announcement. Application deadline: 1 March 2005.

Guest lecture by Françoise Dantzer
[Announced 8 February 2005]

Dr. Françoise Dantzer, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universite Louis Pasteur, Ecole Supériore de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg (ESBS), France, will give a guest lecture on Monday 14 February 2005 at 14.00 in auditorium A3.3067 at Rikshospitalet, with the title:

Late generation PARP-2-deficient mice display male sterility associated with meiosis 1 abnormalities and defect in spermiogenesis

Guest lecture by Wim Vermuelen
[Announced 24 January 2005]

Prof. Wim Vermuelen, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Medical Genetic Center, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, will give a guest lecture on Wednesday 9 February 2005 at 15.00 in auditorium A3.3067 at Rikshospitalet, with the title:

Dynamic DNA repair protein interactions in living cells

Guest lecture by Clive Bramham
[Announced 24 January 2005]

Prof. Clive Bramham, Department of Physiology, University of Bergen, will give a guest lecture on Thursday 3 February 2005 at 12.15 in the new auditorium 13, Domus Medica, with the title:

BDNF as a trigger for synaptic consolidation in the adult brain

CMBN research on water channels published in PNAS
[Announced 22 January 2005]

CMBN researchers have published a paper that suggests that aquaporin water channels may be involved in the regulation of neuronal excitability and that a redistribution of these channels may be a pathogenic factor in human temporal lobe epilepsy.

Eid T, Lee TS, Thomas MJ, Amiry-Moghaddam M, Bjornsen LP, Spencer DD, Agre P, Ottersen OP, de Lanerolle NC (2005) Loss of perivascular aquaporin 4 may underlie deficient water and K⁺ homeostasis in the human epileptogenic hippocampus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 102, 1193–1198.
PubMed | Abstract | Full text | PDF

CMBN research seminar on mitochondrial function
[Announced 19 January 2005]

Thursday 14 - Friday 15 April 2005, CMBN research seminar (forskerkurs) in Store Auditorium, Rikshospitalet:

Mitochondrial Function: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Aspects

Application deadline: 1 April 2005.

More information