Wall of Fame

Our Professor Hans E. Johnsen passed away unexpectedly on 17 May 2018, only days after his 70th birthday.

Since 2005 he has been the motivator and facilitator in establishing a strong and innovative research section at the Haematology Department, Aalborg University Hospital/Aalborg University. He has been one of the leading experts within personalized medicine in Denmark and will be deeply missed by all of us.

Our thoughts and sympathy go to his family.

 

Professor, DMSc Hane E Johnsen was head of the research section at the Department of Haematology, Aalborg Universsity Hospital from 2005.

Job title:  Professor in Clinical Haematology, Head of the Research Organization, DMSc.

Education:  Medical Doctor (MD), Specialist in Haematology and Internal Medicine

Work area: Head of the Research Organization including the Clinical Research Unit, Biobank, Research Laboratory and Secretariat. Responsible for the research strategy, budget and management including PhD programmes for young scientists in training.

Area of interest: Clinical implementation of molecular biological methods with focus on new diagnostic and prognostic strategies – based on research in mechanisms of pathogenesis for malignant B cell diseases.

 

PhD thesis – Sara Correia Marques, 27 November 2015
On Friday 27 November 2015 MPharm Sara Correia Marques, Department of Haematology, defended her PhD thesis with the title: ”Doxorubicin response in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma”
Ph.d.-projekt fra Aarhus Universitet, Health viser, at særlige microRNAer, små RNA molekyler, påvirker behandlingsresponset, og at de har potentiale til at blive vigtige prognostiske biomarkører i diffust storcellet B-celle lymfom (DSBCL). DSBCL er den mest hyppige type af alle non-Hodgkin lymfomer, og førstelinje-behandling af alle DSBCL patienter er typisk en kombination af rituximab, cyclophosphamid, doxorubicin, vincristin og prednisolon (R-CHOP).

 

Mere end halvdelen af patienterne får tilbagefald, og 30-40% dør af tilbagefald eller refraktær sygdom. Behandlingssvigt sker hoved-sageligt på grund af behandlingsresistens, som kan være iboende eller erhvervet i løbet af sygdomsbehandlingen.

 

Ph.d.-projektet viser, at miR-34a er højere udtrykt på diagnosetidspunktet hos DSBCL patienter klassificeret som doxorubicin-følsomme, og at der er signifikant prog-nostisk sammenhæng mellem opreguleret miR-34a udtryk og forbedret total overlevelse hos patienter behandlet med R-CHOP regimet.

 

Desuden har Sara Correia Marques vist, at doxorubicin inducerer ændringer i udtrykket af adskillige gener og signalveje afhængigt af eksponeringstid, iboende evne til respons og koncentration.

Bedømmere:

• Associate Professor Charlotte Guldborg Nyvold, MSc, ph.d., Hæmatologisk afdeling, Aarhus Universitetshospital, Aarhus, Danmark
• Professor Dan Grandér, MD, ph.d., Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska hospital and Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
• Professor Per Guldberg, MSc, ph.d. Kost, gener og miljø gruppe, Center for Kræftforskning, Kræftens Bekæmpelse, København, Danmark

Vejleder:

• Professor MSO Karen Dybkær, Klinisk Institut og Hæmatologisk Afdeling, Aalborg Universitetshospital, Aalborg, Danmark

Tid:

• Den 27. november 2015, kl. 13.00

 

Sted:

• Festsalen, Aalborg Universitetshospital – Psykiatrien, Mølleparkvej 10, 9000 Aalborg, Receptionen afholdes i kantinen i Forskningens Hus.

PhD thesis – Kaspar René Nielsen, 14 December 2015
On Monday 14 December 2015 physician Kaspar René Nielsen, Department of Clinical Immunology, defended his PhD thesis with the title: ”A study of inflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms in B-cell diseases”

 

Kaspar René Nielsens afhandling består af fire studier, som undersøger single nucleotide polymorphisms, (SNP’s) i gener for inflammatoriske cytokiner og deres patogenetiske betydning ved rheumatoid artritis (RA), myelomatose (MM) og Bcelle non-Hodgkin’s lymfom (B-NHL).

I det første studie påviste Kaspar René Nielsen en funktionel SNP i CHI3L1 genet, der koder for det pro-inflammatoriske protein YKL-40. Der blev målt serumniveauer af YKL-40, som blev fundet stærkt associeret til CHI3L1 -131C/G (rs4950928) i RA (p=2.4e-08) og i kontroller (p<2.2e-16).

I det andet studie udvalgte forskergruppen i alt tretten funktionelle SNP’s. De genotypede 348 MM patienter og 355 kontroller og fandt en association mellem TNFA -238A (rs361525) og
nedsat sygdomsrisiko (OR=0.51 (0.29-0.86)). Forskerne etablerede en model til at studere
gen-gen interaktioner og kunne vise en mulig sammenhæng mellem prognose og
interaktion mellem IL6 og IL10 samt TNFA og IL4 genotyper.

I det tredje studie genotypede Kaspar René Nielsen og hans gruppe 355 B-NHL patienter og
307 kontroller for 50 SNPs. De bekræftede tidligere påviste sammenhænge mellem såvel
sygdomsrisiko og overlevelse og antydede en ny sammenhæng mellem CHI3L1 (rs4950928) og follikulært lymfom (HRCG = 2.04 (1.17-3.54)). Gen-gen interaktionsanalyse viste en mulig kombineret effekt af gener af betydning for IL-4 og IL-10 og disse interaktioner blev efterfølgende undersøgt på genekspressions niveau.

Baseret på det komplekse billede, der blev observerede i studierne og den litteratur, der
sideløbende er publiceret, foretog forskergruppen en litteraturgennemgang, som ligger til
grund for det fjerde studie.

Målet med ph.d.-studiet var at erhverve ny biologisk viden om B-celle sygdommene, og
forskerne arbejder allerede nu med modeller for såvel in vitro og in vivo funktionelle
aspekter af disse genetiske variationer. Perspektivet er, at denne viden kan anvendes til at
designe ny prognostiske systemer samt til at skræddersy behandlingen for den enkelte
patient og dermed opnå egentlig ”personalized medicine”.
Bedømmere:

• Michael B. Petersen (chairman), Professor, MD, PhD, DMSc
  Department of Clinical Genetics, Aalborg University Hospital
• Marianne Hokland, Professor, MD, DMSc,
  Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University
• Markus Hansson, Associate Professor, MD, PhD, Senior Consultant
  Department of Hematology, Lund University Hospital

 

Vejledere:

•  Hans Erik Johnsen, Professor, DMSc
  Department of Hematology, Aalborg University Hospital

• Rudi Steffensen, PhD
  Department of Clinical Immunology, Aalborg University Hospital
• Martin Bøgsted, Professor, PhD
  Department of Hematology, Aalborg University Hospital

Tid:

• Den 14. december 2015, kl. 14.00

 

Sted:

• Auditoriet, Medicinerhuset, Aalborg Universitetshospital. Efterfølgende afholdes en reception.

PhD thesis – Anders Ellern Bilgrau, 9 November 2015

PhD student at Aalborg University
1/9-2012 – 31/8-2015

PhD thesis defended on 9 November 2015  “Reproducibility and data integration in high-dimensional statistics with applications in molecular cancer biiology”

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PhD thesis – Kim Steve Gerlach Bergkvist, 26 September 2014
On Friday 26 September 2014, MSc Eng. Kim Steve Gerlach Bergkvist, Department of Haematology, will defend his PhD thesis with the title: ”Gene expression profiling of normal B-cell subsets – Technical procedures and performance”
Ph.d.projektet havde det overordnede formål at forbedre og dokumentere de tekniske procedurer i forbindelse med studiet af normale B-celle-subpopulationer og efterfølgende studere pathogenesen i maligne B-celler.

Konceptet bag dette projekt var, at en biologisk klassifikation af B-celle afledte kræftformer kan forbedres ved en mere direkte og systematisk strategi, hvor en karakterisering af de normale B-celle-differentieringstrin kan bruges til at bestemme kræftcellens cellulære oprindelse. Et problem er imidlertid, at nogle B-celle-subpopulationer er lavfrekvente, og der er ingen veldokumenterede procedurer for global genekspressionsprofiler af sorterede celler.
Sammenfattende har mit arbejde etableret en fremgangsmåde til generering af globale genekspres-sionsprofiler fra lavfrekvente B-celle-subpopulationer. Potentialet i denne metode blev vist i en analyse, som understøtter den formodning, at Primært Mediastinalt storcellet B-celle lymfom, opstår i brissel B-celler.
Bedømmere:

• June Helen Myklebust, PhD
  Institute for Cancer Research – Section for Immunology
  Oslo University Hospital, Norway
• Mogens Kruhøffer, PhD
  AROS Applied Biotechnology A/S
  Aarhus N, Denmark
• Ralf Agger, PhD
  Institut for Medicin og Sundhedsteknologi
  Aalborg Universitet, Denmark

Vejledere:

• Hans E. Johnsen
  Clinical Professor Dr. MD
  Department of Haematology
  Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark
• Mette Nyegaard, PhD
  Associate professor
  Department of Biomedicine
  Aarhus University, Denmark

Tid:

• Den 26. september 2014, kl. 13.00

 

Sted:

• Auditoriet i Forskningens Hus, Sdr. Skovvej 15, Aalborg Universitetshospital, med efterfølgende reception i kantinen.

PhD thesis – Steffen Falgreen Larsen, 14 March 2014
On Friday 14 March 2014, MSc Steffen Falgreen Larsen, Department of Haematology, defended his PhD thesis with the title: ”Statistical Methods for Tracing the Molecular Origin of Treatment Resistance in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma”.

 

Fredag den 14. marts 2014, kl. 13.00, forsvarer cand.scient. Steffen Falgreen Larsen, Hæmatologisk Afdeling, sin ph.d. afhandling med titlen ”Statistical Methods for Tracing the Molecular Origin of Treatment Resistance in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma”. Forsvaret er offentligt og alle interesserede er velkomne.

Patienter, der lider af kræftformen diffust storcellet B-cellelymfom (DSB), behandles primært med kemoterapi. For mange patienter er den traditionelle behandling tilstrækkelig til at bekæmpe sygdommen, mens andre patienter ikke opnår den ønskede effekt og ender med at dø af resistent sygdom. Undersøgelser af gen-ekspressionsprofiler (GEP) i DSB har afdækket biologiske variationer, der afspejler den cellulære oprindelse af tumoren. Variationerne er af prognostisk betydning, hvilket viser, at en biologisk heterogen sygdom behandles på samme vis. Projektet har undersøgt muligheden for at anvende humane kræft-cellelinjer som et modelsystem til udvikling af gensignaturer, der kan forudsige, hvorvidt en patient er følsom over for en bestemt kemoterapi. I løbet af projektet er der etableret en ny og mere effektiv statistisk metode til evaluering af effekten af kemoterapi på cellelinjer. Denne metode er sammen med genekspressions-profilering blevet benyttet til at etablere gensignaturer, der estimerer sandsynligheden for at den enkelte patient er følsom over for en bestemt kemoterapi. Gensignaturerne er efterfølgende blevet valideret i en uafhængig klinisk kohorte samt benyttet til at afdække om den cellulære oprindelse har betydning for følsomheden over for specifikke kemoterapeutika på baggrund af gensignaturen. Steffen arbejder nu videre som postdoc med at validere fundene i samarbejde med Hæmatologisk Afdelings molekylærbiologer og klinikere.
Bedømmerne:

• Associate Professor Jakob Skou Pedersen (chairman) Molekylær Medicinsk Afdeling, Aarhus University Hospital
• Professor Yudi Pawitan, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm
• Associate Professor Christian Ritz, Department of Nutritoin, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen

Vejleder:

• Professor Martin Bøgsted, Klinisk Institut og Hæmatologisk Afdeling, Aalborg Universitetshospital

Tid:

• Den 14. marts 2014, kl. 13.00

 

Sted:

• Auditoriet i Forskningens Hus, Sdr. Skovvej 15, Aalborg Universitetshospital, med efterfølgende reception i kantinen.

PhD thesis – Maria Bach Laursen, 7 March 2014

 

On Friday 7 March 2014, MSc Maria Bach Laursen, Department of Haematology, defended her PhD thesis with the title: ”Rituximab Sensitivity in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma”.

 

Fredag den 7. marts 2014, kl. 13.00, forsvarede cand.scient. Maria Bach Laursen, Hæmatologisk Afdeling, sin ph.d. afhandling med titlen ”Rituximab Sensitivity in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma”.

Brugen af immunterapi i kombination med standard kemoterapi har medført forbedret overlevelse hos blandt andet patienter med diffust storcellet B-celle lymfom (DLBCL). Der er dog stadig omkring en trediedel af patienterne, som ikke helbredes. Det er derfor vigtigt at øge forståelsen af virkningsmekanismer og faktorer involveret i respons, i forsøget på at identificere patienter, der ikke har gavn af behand-lingen.
Med særlig fokus på effekten af immun-terapi har vi gennemført systematisk dosis-respons analyse af hvordan rituximab, et anti-CD20 antistof rettet mod CD20 på alle B-celler, påvirker DLBCL celler. Resultatet viste, at der findes 3 typer af respons. 1 ) hypersensitive 2 ) moderat sensitive og 3) resistente. Ved at anvende denne grup-pering identificerede vi, at forskellige induktionsmønstre af microRNA og mekanismer blev påvirket efter rituximab-behandling. Wnt mekanismen blev væsentligt påvirket i de hypersensitive cellelinjer, hvilket indikerer, at denne mekanisme er involveret i det første respons og derfor en vigtig variabel i sygdomsudvikling og behandling.
Studier har vist, at hæmning af interaktion mellem CXCR4 og CXCL12 med antagonister har forbedret effekten af rituximab. Vi har derfor undersøgt, om CXCR4 har prognostisk værdi i DLBCL. Undersøgelsen viste, at CXCR4 er en uafhængig prognostisk faktor i DLBCL hos patienter behandlet med rituximab i kombination med standard kemoterapi. Derudover har vi vist, at CXCR4 spiller en rolle i rituximab respons i DLBCL cellelinjer. Dette gør CXCR4 til en potentiel prognostisk biomarkør for rituximab-respons ved DLBCL.
Bedømmerne:

• Anders Lade Nielsen, Professor, PhD, MSc.
  Department of Biomedicine, Bartholinbuilding,
  Aarhus University
  DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

• Meg Duroux, Lektor
  Det Sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet
  Institut for Medicin og Sundhedsteknologi
  Faggruppen for Biomedicin
  Laboratorium for Cancerbiologi
  Fredrik Bajers Vej 3, Bygning B, 2-201
  9220, Aalborg Ø, Danmark
• Sirpa Leppä, MD, PhD
  Department of Oncology
  Helsinki University Central Hospital
  FI-00029 Helsinki, Finland

Vejleder:

• Professor Karen Dybkær, Klinisk Institut og Hæmatologisk Afdeling, Aalborg Universitetshospital

Tid:

• Den 7. marts 2014, kl. 13.00

Sted:

• Auditoriet i Forskningens Hus, Sdr. Skovvej 15, Aalborg Universitets-hospital, med efterfølgende reception i kantinen.

PhD thesis – Maria Bro Kloster, 26 October 2012

On Friday 26 October 2012, M.Sc.Eng. (Medical Biotechnology) Maria Bro Kloster, Department of Haematology, defended her PhD thesis with the title: “Alternative Transcription Start Sites in Transcription Factors in Normal B-cell Subpopulations and Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma”.

About 1000 new cases of lymphoma are diagnosed in Denmark every year, of which non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is the most frequent subtype. About 400 of newly diagnosed NHL are classified as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). DLBCL is a highly heterogeneous disease, not only with respect to clinical information and outcome, but also with respect to biological analysis of morphology, immunohistochemistry, cytogenetics, and gene expression.

We believe that alternative transcription starts sites in genes encoding transcription factors have an important role as determinants of the biogenesis of both the normal B-cell differentiation and malignant B-cell development. This PhD project, therefore, focuses on understanding the heterogeneity based on the cellular hierarchy and the involvement of alternative transcription start sites of genes encoding transcription factors in the normal B-cell differentiation and lymphomagenesis.

We found that usage of alternative transcription factors is common during the normal B-cell differentiation, and thus, B-cells have developed a complexity to fine-tune the functional diversity of transcription factors in a cell-type specific manner during the normal B-cell differentiation.

Furthermore, a limited number of transcription factors are deregulated in DLBCL tumour tissues with mRNA expression levels of prognostic impact, supporting their involvement in the pathogenesis of DLBCL. The tumour cell concentration is an important factor variable when interpreting gene expression profiles for both microarray- and next generation sequencing-based analyses.

Evaluation committee:

• Sabina Sevcikova, M.Sc., PhD, Barak Myeloma Group, Department of Pathological Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
• Mads Thomassen, M.Sc., PhD, Institute for Human Genetics, Odense University Hospital, Denmark
• Associate Professor, Steffen Junker, PhD, Department of Biomedicine – Department of Human genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark

Supervisors:

• Associate Professor, Karen Dybkær, Department of Haematology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University, Denmark
• Professor, Hans E. Johnsen, Department of Haematology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University, Denmark

Time:

• 26 October 2012, at 13.00 p.m.

Place:

• In the auditorium at Aalborg Science and Innovation Center, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital

PhD thesis – Magdalena Julia Dabrowska, 12 September 2012

On Wednesday 12 September 2012, MSc (molecular biology / human biology)  Magdalena Julia Dabrowska, Department of Haematology, defended her PhD thesis with the title: ”Identification and Characterization of New Genes Important for T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Development”

T-cell lymphoblastic lymphomas (T-LBLs) are rare, but clinically very aggressive tumors. Patients with T-LBL have limited treatment options and poor prognosis. The low incidence of T-LBL is a major obstacle in studies of T-LBL biology, therefore the chromosomal abnormalities that lead to development of the disease are poorly characterized. Human T-LBLs are phenotypically and histopathologically comparable to murine T-LBLs, making the mouse lymphoma model an ideal system to study the disease in an environment similar to that in humans. When newborn mice of the NMRI inbred strain are inoculated with the SL3-3 murine leukemia virus (MLV), they develop various hematopoietic malignancies dependent on the virus mutant used, including T-LBLs.

The oncogenic properties of SL3-3 are caused by integration of the viral genome into the host genome, and deregulation of nearby cellular genes – a process defined as insertional mutagenesis. Identification of the resulting integration sites is therefore a powerful method in the identification of genes contributing to development of murine and possibly also human hematopoietic malignancies.

The main aim of the study was to identify deregulated genes and pathways in murine T-LBLs. To achieve this, thymus, spleen and lymph node tumors, induced by various SL3-3 mutants, were screened for integration sites and analysed by PCR, qPCR, microarray based gene expression profiling (GEP) and immunoblotting (western blot).

The transcriptional repressor and oncogene, growth factor independence 1 (Gfi1) was identified as the most frequently targeted gene in SL3-3 induced tumors and was activated by all SL3-3 insertions in the Gfi1 locus. We show that Gfi1 is alternatively spliced in murine T-LBLs from thymus, spleen and lymph node, and that the GFI1 protein translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in both murine and human T-LBLs and lymphoid cell lines. Our results indicate that deregulated GFI1 expression is a significant hallmark in both murine and human T-LBL. GEP on murine T-LBL tumors from thymus and spleen confirmed upregulation of Gfi1, as well as increase in expression of genes involved in S phase initiation of the cell cycle, including the minichromosome maintenance (Mcm) – origin recognition (Orc) pathway.
The assessment committee consists of:

• Associate Professor Jan Alsner (chairman)
  Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital
• Professor Bodil Norrild
  Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen
• Carol Stocking, PhD
  AG Molecular Pathology, Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz Institute for Virology

Supervisors:

• Associate professor Karen Dybkær
  Department of Haematology, Medical Center Aalborg Hospital Science and Innovation Center, Aalborg Hospital
• Professor  Finn Skou Pedersen
  Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University

Time:

• 12 September 2012, at 13.00 p.m.

Place:

• Auditorium 6, Room 347 (Biokemi 6) in building 1170, Aarhus University, Ole Worms Alle, 8000 Aarhus C.

PhD thesis – Malene Krag Kjeldsen, 18 September 2012

On Tuesday 18 September 2012, MSc (human biology) Malene Krag Kjeldsen, Department of Haematology, defended her PhD thesis with the title: ”Studies of the B-cell hierarchy in normal and malignant lymphopiesis.”

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) accounts for 2–3% of all cancers. t present the annual incidence of all NHL is estimated to be 15-20 cases/100,000 with 30-40% of these cases classified as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the updated report from World Health Organization (WHO-2008).

This classification has recognized DLBCL as a heterogeneous group of patients not only with respect to clinical presentation and outcome but also biologically based on analysis of morphology, immunohistochemical analysis, cytogenetic and gene expression. The PhD project has focused on trying to increase our understanding of this heterogeneity based on the cellular hierarchy and transcription factors involvement in the oncogenic process.

The project has increased our knowledge of the normal B-cell populations from where DLBCL arises using a new approach to determine cell of origin. This classification of DLBCL according to cell of origin has prognostic value. Furthermore, the project has studied the role of SOX4 in DLBCL and shown that SOX4 protein shows variable expression and localization within the cell.

Evaluation committee:

• Associate professor, Dr. MD, Sara Ek, Department of Immunotechnology, Lund University, Sweden
• Licentiate, Principal molecular biologist, Niels Pallisgaard, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Vejle Hospital, Denmark
• Chairman of the commitee, Professor, MD DMSc Marianne Hokland, Institute of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark

Supervisors:

• Associate Professor, Karen Dybkær, Department of Haematology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital
• Professor Hans E. Johnsen, Department of Haematology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital

Time:

• 18 September 2012, at 13.00 p.m.

Place:

• In the auditorium at Aalborg Science and Innovation Center, AalborgHospital, Aarhus University Hospital. Sdr.  Skovvej 15, 9000 Aalborg

MSc thesis defence – Anders Ellern Bilgrau, 21 June 2012

On 21 June 2012 MSc student Anders Ellern Bilgrau defended his MSc thesis  ”Reproducibility Analysis of Microarray Cancer Studies using Gaussian Mixture Copulas”.

The project was supervised by Martin Bøgsted from the Research Laboratory and Jakob Gulddahl Rasmussen from Department of Mathematical Sciences, Aalborg University. Anders is now ready to start his PhD-studies at the Department from 3 July and the next three years ahead.

PhD thesis – Anders Petersen, 22 December 2011

On Friday 22 December  2011, MSc PhD student Anders Petersen, Department of Haematology, defended his PhD thesis with the title: “MicroRNA targets in Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma”.

 

MicroRNAs are gene regulatory factors found to be differentially expressed in normal versus tumour tissue and between many different cancers and subgroups of cancers. MicroRNAs direct the binding of the RISC (RNA-inducing silencing complex) to the 3´UTR of specific mRNAs containing target sequences complementary to the microRNA. Thereby the RISC post  transcriptional regulates the expression of this mRNA.
Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) has an incidence of approximately 2.9 per 100,000 people. It accounts for 30-40% of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas and it is a heterogeneous disease which can be divided into molecular subgroups on the basis of gene expression profiling (GEP).
This Ph.D. project has been focused on microRNA and mRNA differentially expressed between nodal and extranodal manifestation of DLBCL and the project has been divided into two parts. First, global microRNA expression analysis of 50 snap frozen tumours was performed in order to identify differentially expressed microRNAs between nodal (41) and extranodal (9) localizations of DLBCL.
The differentially expressed microRNAs were validated by QPCR and their significance in distinguishing nodal from extranodal localizations of DLBCL were tested in an additional set of 56 formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumours by QPCR. MiRNA expression of differentiated miRNA between nodal and extranodal localisation of DLBCL was correlated to survival. Second, identification of potential mRNA targets by bioinformatics correlations of global gene and microRNA expression analysis for the specific differentially expressed microRNAs found in part one was performed. Indirect and direct interactions between specific microRNAs and their potential targets were studied by knock down experiments, luciferace reporter assays and QPCR.

 

Evaluation committee:

• Professor Charles H. Lawrie, PhD
  Biodonostia Research Institute, San Sebastián
• Chief consultant Kirsten Grønbæk, DMSci
  Dept. Hematology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Associate professor Steffen Junker, D.Phil. – chairman of the committee
  Institute of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark

Main supervisor:

• Associate Professor, Karen Dybkær, Department of Haematology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University, Denmark

Time:

• 22 December 2011, at 13.00 p.m.

Place:

• In the auditorium at Aalborg Science and Innovation Center, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

23/8/2010 – 21/12/2011Master Thesis defended on 21December 2011 with the title “CYTOGENETIC PROFILING OF B-CELL LYMPHOMAS”

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

23/8/2010 – September 2011, Master Thesis defended on 24 October 2011 with the title “Analysis of PAX5 promoters and alternative transcripts in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma”

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

9/8/2010 – June 2011, Master Thesis defended on 23 June 2011 with the title “Identifications of specific microRNAs and AID in B-cell subpopulations”

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

4/8/2009 – June 2010, Master Thesis defended on 24 June 2010 with the title “The role of Sox4 in malignant B-cell disorders”

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

 18/8/2008 – 01/6/2009, Master Thesis defended in 24 June 2009 with the title “MicroRNAs controlling phenotypic mechanisms in diffuse large B cell lymphoma”

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

1/9-2007 – 15/2-2008 Master Thesis defended on February 2008 with the title “Gene expression profiling of formalin-fixed-paraffin-embedded tissue”

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

1/8-2007 – 31/8-2008, Master Thesis defended in September 2008 with the title “Effect of chromosomal loss of 6q21-q22 on locus-specific gene expression and microRNA expression in malignant B cell lymphomagenesis”

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Master student at the Research Laboratory

1/11-2006 – 31/3-2007, Master Thesis defended in March 2007 with the title “Cancer stem cell biology”