Aarhus University Seal

Nykjær Group

Receptor Neurobiology

Research activities are focused towards the functional characterization of a group of type-1 receptors denoted the Vps10p-domain family, or so-called sortlins, that comprises sortilin, SorLA, and SorCS-1, -2, and -3. The receptors are enriched in neurons where they mediate trafficking and signaling of a vast number of ligands such as neurotrophic factors along with their cognate receptors, neurotransmitter receptors, APP, and progranulin. Among many activities, the receptors regulate neuronal cell fate, differentiation, innervation, synaptic plasticity, and learning and memory. Key goals of the Nykjaer lab is to understand their functions in the heathy brain, dissect out their mode of actions, investigate how genetic variation contributes to disease development - in particular of neuropsychiatric disorders and memory impairment -, and to evaluate their potential as drug targets.

Methodologies include transgenic mice and zebrafish, a broad repertoire of molecular, cellular and genetic and viral tools, transcriptomics and (phospho)proteomics, neuroembryology, mouse behavior, electrophysiology and advanced imaging including high-resolution microscopy. In vivo fiber photometry and mesoscale single unit recordings are currently being implemented.

Available projects 

The Nykjær group currently has projects available for Master students and postdocs within the following research areas. 

Functions of the sortilin receptor family in health and disease:

  • Molecular mechanisms underlying memory and psychiatric disorders

Please contact Group Leader Anders Nykjær directly, if interested.

Previous news from the research group

News

Welcome to Petra Kompaníková who is the new intern in Nykjærs team

- AndersNykjær

Petra will be in Anders Nykjærs lab until the 17 of December. She studies Molecular biology and genetics at Masaryk university in Czech Republic.…

Welcome to Melina Hien who started as ERASMUS intern in Nykjær Group the 19th of August 2019

- AndersNykjær

Melina Hien will be here at DANDRITE until the 18th of december. She is studying Biology, with the specialisation Neurobiology, at the TU in…

Welcome to Lucie Woloszczuková, who is new Research Assistant in Nykjær Group

- People

Lucie is a new Research Assistant in Anders Nykjær lab and she will work together with our postdoc Alena Salasova on the development of dopaminergic…

New discovery: The journey of WNT5A across the developing brain in mice and men

- Research news

Alena Salasova, a postdoc in Anders Nykjær's group, is co-author of new article published in Nature Communications on April 2 . The paper entitled…

Group leader Anders Nykjær is co-author to new paper in Cell Reports

- AndersNykjær

Protecting neurons from cell death following epilepsy

A new paper paper by Malik et al in Cell Reports, coauthored by Anders Nykjaer, demonstrates…

Welcome to new intern Andreaa Udrea

- AndersNykjær

Andreea Udrea is a new intern in Anders Nykjær’s group per January 28th. Andreea is a technician and has been working at Copenhagen University before…

Lone Fuglsang Pedersen is new Research Assistant in Nykjær Lab

- AndersNykjær

Lone Fuglsang Pedersen is new Research Assistant in Anders Nykjær Group. Recently, it was discovered that that sortilin gene family members regulate…