Date/Time: 3rd February 2009, 17:30

Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building (opposite Haymarket Metro)

To listen to a recording of this lecture:  

 

The mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouse of the cell as they produce the bulk part of the cellular energy needed for a variety of metabolic reactions. Chemical energy is harvested from different types of food we ingest and converted by mitochondria to ATP, the energy currency of the cell. In this process the respiratory chain of the mitochondria consume most of the oxygen we breathe. Mitochondria contain the own genetic material, the mtDNA, which is necessary for the function of the respiratory chain. Deficient mitochondrial can lead to a whole range of problems, such as heart failure, diabetes, muscle weakness and neurodegeneration. Decreased mitochondrial function is also connected to the normal ageing process, and cells with decreased mitochondrial function are commonly found in tissue of aging humans. The lecture will give an overview on how Dr. Larsson's group has used genetically altered mouse models to study the role of mitochondria in human disease and ageing. For instance, a mouse model with increased rate of mitochondrial mutations, leading to several accelerated ageing phenotypes, will be described. A mouse model for Parkinson’s disease will also be discussed. 

 

Nils-Göran Larsson has been interested in the connections between mitochondrial dysfunction and human disease since 1987, when he as a graduate student first came into contact with patients with mitochondrial disease. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University 1994-1997 and started his own research group at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden in 1997. Dr Larsson has held a position as professor in Mitochondrial Genetics at Karolinska Institutet and senior consultant at the Center for Inherited Metabolic Disease at the Karolinska university hospital. Dr. Larsson has recently been appointed as one of the directors at the newly formed Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany. Dr. Larsson has been awarded the Göran Gustafsson price in Medicine from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the INGVAR award from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, The Descartes price from the European Commission, the Anniversary Prize from the Swedish Society of Medicine and the Hilda och Alfred Eriksson’s Prize from the Royal Academy of Sciences. Dr. Larsson has been a member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology and Medicine and is currently a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden.