Aarhus University Seal

Denham Group

Denham group - Stem Cells

The Denham lab focuses on developing cell transplantation therapies for neurological disorders using human pluripotent stem cells. The lab has pioneered the development of lineage restriction as a novel method for controlling stem cell differentiation. Lineage restriction involves genetically restricting the pluripotent stem cell’s ability to differentiate down unwanted lineages. They achieve this by knocking out transcriptional regulators critical for specifying alternate lineages. They call these cells lineage-restricted undifferentiated stem cells (LR-USCs).

Developing Lineage Restricting Stem Cells for a Parkinson’s Disease Cell Therapy


Current state-of-the-art differentiation protocols result in only a minor percentage of the transplanted cells becoming dopaminergic neurons. To address this, the lab developed LR-USCs that robustly generate mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons under a broad range of differentiation conditions. These LR-USCs efficiently and reliably generate dopaminergic neurons, making them ideal for large-scale clinical production. In addition to developing LR-USCs for Parkinson’s disease, the lab is applying this approach to create LR-USCs specialized for generating other cell types for various diseases. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.28.462222
 

Projects for Master and ERASMUS students currently available

If interested, please contact Group Leader Mark Denham directly (mden@biomed.au.dk) for further information. See further information on projects here (PDF)
 

News

AU-forsker søger patent på ny, banebrydende stamcelleforskning til behandling af Parkinson

Mark Denham
- MarkDenham

Et patent på en helt ny forskningsmetode baner vejen for en revolutionerende behandlingsmetode af Parkinsons-patienter, som kan genoprette bevægelse…

Denham Lab publishes article in Nature Communications

- Research

Denham Lab may have made a breakthrough in the research of Parkinsons Disease, delivering the strongest results for both side-effect-free and…

Poul Nissen steps down as the director of DANDRITE to become vice dean for research

- People news

After serving as the director for 10 years, Poul Nissen will take on the position of vice dean at Aarhus University at the beginning of the year.…

Previous news from the research group

News

Welcome to Abdulkarim Harakow who is new Master student in Mark Denhan's group from september 15th

- 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…

Muwan Chen prolonged as Assistant Professor

- 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…

Katherine Gill receives Lundbeck Postdoctoral fellowship

- 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.…

Congratulations to Mark Denham, who has had his Group Leader extension approved

- People

The Executive Board of DANDRITE has approved the recommendations from the Assessment Committee to extend Mark’s appointment at DANDRITE and thus, Mark…

Susanne Hvolbøl Buchholdt continues in a permanent employment as technician in Denham Group

- MarkDenham

Susanne Hvolbøl Buchholdt is a technician in the Denham lab, and her main tasks include culturing and maintaining human pluripotent stem cells. She…

Mark Denham receives DKK 100,000 from Parkinsonforeningen (The Parkinson's Foundation)

- MarkDenham

Mark Denham receives the grant for the project: "Investigating Genetic Susceptibility in Parkinson’s Disease GBA Heterozygous Carriers".

New publication from Mark Denham’s group

- MarkDenham

The article on “A Modified Monomeric Red Fluorescent Protein Reporter for Assessing CRISPR Activity” was recently published in the journal Frontiers…

Emma Johannsen is new shared Student Assistant in Yonehara, Denham and Nabavi Group

- People

Emma is a new student assistant shared between Mark Denham, Keisuke Yonehara and Sadegh Nabavi. She will mainly be handling autoclavation in…

Reyila Simayi is new Erasmus student in Denham Group

- 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…