New view of a familiar ion pump answers key questions about how it works

Three states revealed from the study representing sodium binding and transition of the Na,K-ATPase from an inward- to outward-oriented state with bound sodium ions. Illustration: Christensen, Habeck et al.

30 September 2026 by Jeanette Frank Nielsen

Researchers from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics have used cryo-EM to study the sodium-potassium pump while it is actively progressing through its transport cycle. This has allowed them to observe previously unknown stages in the pump’s activity and has provided new insights into how it selects and transports Na+, how different variants of the protein function, and how disease-related mutations affect these mechanisms.

A large part of the research was carried out in the Nissen Group while Vice-Dean for Research Poul Nissen was still DANDRITE’s director, and first author Mads Eskesen Christensen was a PhD student and later a postdoc in the Nissen Group.

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