Colloquium Series on Neuroglia in Biology and Medicine: From Physiology to Disease: Astroglia and Brain Metabolism (PDF)

continued during her Ph.D. studies in the lab of Prof. Ursula Sonnewald and, at the same time, a special interest in the functional and metabolic importance of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in relation to seizure activity was established. In 2010 she obtained an individual postdoc grant from the Danish Medical Research Council to study the importance of glycogen as energy substrate and precursor for GABAergic signaling and, in 2014, she received another individual postdoc grant from The Lundbeck Foundation to investigate the role of the enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) for ammonia fixation in the brain during hyperammonemia and hepatic encephalopathy. Since 2013, she has served as an editorial board member for Metabolic Brain Disease and, together with Prof. Arne Schousboe, has been a guest editor on a special issue of Metabolic Brain Disease on Brain Glycogen: Emergency Fuel and Dynamic Function in Neurotransmission, published in February 2015.

Lasse K. Bak, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. His main field of research is the coupling between brain cell signaling events mediated by cAMP and calcium, and the functional and metabolic responses they elicit. He has published more than 50 scientific peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and book chapters.

Helle S. Waagepetersen is Full Professor of Cellular Neuropharmacology at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen. She has served as Handling Editor of the Journal of Neurochemistry and is a member of several editorial boards. Professor Waagepetersen has received the European Society of Neurochemistry Young Lectureship Award. She has published a total of 120 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, book chapters, and books within the area of brain energy metabolism. Professor Waagepetersen is employing primary mouse cell culture systems of neurons and astrocytes. In addition, brain slices, isolated mitochondria, and cell lines are applied as model systems. An array of 3H, 15N, and 13C isotopes is utilized in the mapping of metabolic pathways and cellular metabolic interactions and trafficking of metabolites in health and disease. HPLC, mass spectrometry, and 13C NMR are key analytical tools combined with biochemical assays, molecular biology, and fluorescence-based assays and imaging techniques.