Specialized iNANO lecture by Associate Professor Eva Arnspang Christensen, SDU

Associate Professor Eva Arnspang Christensen, Department of Green Technology, University of Southern Denmark

Unravelling the Mechanisms Causing Diseases by Imaging Proteins and Organelles in Cells using Super-Resolved Microscopy and Advanced Analysis Tools

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and expansion microscopy, enables imaging of cellular structures and localizing proteins in cells with nanometer resolution. Expansion microscopy is a method that physically magnifies the sample, allowing for the acquisition of super-resolution images by using conventional microscopes. Super-resolution, when combined with image analysis techniques, provides a powerful tool to investigate the complex cellular environment and decipher the mechanisms underlying how e.g. AT1R organized in the plasma membrane. Angiotensin type 1 receptor, AT1R plays a pivotal role in maintaining salts and fluids homeostasis, cardiac adaptation, and blood pressure regulation within the cell. This study aims to unravel the AT1R organization at the single-molecule level and also explore how their interactions with ligand complexes may influence their distribution within cells.

In Parkinson’s Disease, a highly prevalent neurodegenerative disease among older adults, protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation are pathognomonic features. However, the mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the interaction between α-synuclein oligomers and organelle membranes by using live cell confocal and STED microscopy. The results revealed that α-synuclein oligomers lead to mitochondrial fragmentation.