The Denham group is working with human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells to study how the nervous system develops and the processes involved in neurodegeneration. In particular, he is interested in the specification of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons, the major cell type affected in Parkinson’s disease. He has developed efficient protocols for generating mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and uncovered some of the key molecular mechanisms that underlie this process.
The main focus of our research is to investigate the signalling pathways required for the specification of precise neural cell types from the pluripotent state, from which our objectives are to use these derivatives to develop in vitro models for studying neurodegenerative diseases. Using this approach our aims are to identify early cellular changes that underlie the onset of neurodegeneration for diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.
Furthermore, we are also interested in how different neural progenitor subtypes survive and function after transplantation in an adult rodent brain. Our overall goals are to develop potential treatment strategies for neurodegenerative disorders in the form of cell replacement therapies and drug development.
If interested, please contact Group Leader Mark Denham directly (mden@biomed.au.dk) for further information. See further information on projects here (PDF)
2019.10.01 | News from the management
Abdulkarim Harakow is currently a Medical Student at Aarhus University, and is enrolled in the master’s degree program. He will be working in the Denham Lab part-time as a master’s student and will assist in different research areas
2019.09.12 | MarkDenham
Muwan Chen is an Assistant Professor in Denham Group. Her contract is extended to December 31, 2022. Muwan will continue her work on understanding the molecular mechanisms that are involved in the early disease states of familial forms of Parkinson’s disease, using single-cell sequencing of pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons.
2019.05.02 | Eliteforskning
Katherine Gill, a postdoc in Mark Denham’s Lab group, was one of 46 successful applicants to be awarded the Lundbeck postdoctoral fellowship for 2019. The fellowship is fully-funded for 3 years, amounting to 2,4 million DKK.
2018.11.29 | People
The Executive Board of DANDRITE has approved the recommendations from the Assessment Committee to extend Mark’s appointment at DANDRITE and thus, Mark has obtained the full extension for 2022.
2018.11.28 | MarkDenham
Susanne Hvolbøl Buchholdt is a technician in the Denham lab, and her main tasks include culturing and maintaining human pluripotent stem cells. She has also been involved in the reprogramming of Parkinson’s disease patient fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells.
2018.11.12 | MarkDenham
Mark Denham receives the grant for the project: "Investigating Genetic Susceptibility in Parkinson’s Disease GBA Heterozygous Carriers".
2018.06.28 | MarkDenham
The article on “A Modified Monomeric Red Fluorescent Protein Reporter for Assessing CRISPR Activity” was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, with Camilla H. Knudsen, PhD student in the group, as first author.
2018.06.21 | People
Emma is a new student assistant shared between Mark Denham, Keisuke Yonehara and Sadegh Nabavi. She will mainly be handling autoclavation in connection to class2 labs. Emma is studying Molecular Medicine on her 4th semester.
2018.02.12 | People
Reyila has joined the Denham lab as an Erasmus exchange student for the next 6 months. Her project will involve using human induced pluripotent stem cells to investigating the link between patients with heterozygous GBA mutations and Parkinson’s disease.
2018.02.06 | MarkDenham
The article is just published in Frontiers. Title: Central and Peripheral Nervous System Progenitors Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Reveal a Unique Temporal and Cell-Type Specific Expression of PMCAs.
