PUMPKIN partners:

Director

Poul Nissen
Professor, PhD
Molecular Biology
Aarhus University

Group Leaders

Anja Thoe Fuglsang
Associate Professor, PhD
Plant Biology
University of Copenhagen

Christian N. S. Pedersen
Associate Professor, PhD
BiRC
Aarhus University

Jesper Vuust Møller
Professor, dr. med.
Physiology and Biophysics
Aarhus University

Karin Lykke-Hartmann
Associate Professor, PhD
Medical Biochemistry
Aarhus University

Michael G. Palmgren
Professor, PhD
Plant Biology
University of Copenhagen

Natalya Fedosova
Associate Professor, PhD
Physiology and Biophysics
Aarhus University

Thomas Günther-Pomorski
Associate Professor, PhD
Plant Biology
University of Copenhagen

Junior group Leaders

Hanne Poulsen
Associate Professor, PhD
Molecular Biology
Aarhus University

Lea V. Thøgersen
Assistant Professor, PhD
Molecular Biology
Aarhus University

Morten Buch-Pedersen
Senior researcher, PhD
Plant Biology
University of Copenhagen

Rosa L. López Margués
Associate Professor, PhD
Plant Biology
University of Copenhagen

Thomas Boesen
Associate Professor, PhD
Molecular Biology
Aarhus University

The Centre for Membrane Pumps in Cells and Disease - PUMPKIN is a highly interdisciplinary research centre funded by the Danish National Research Foundation.

Under the direction of Professor Poul Nissen, the centre analyses the structure and function of P-type ATPases, a family of ion pumps that are found in all cells of various bacteria, plants and animals. These enzymes serve a wide range of functions. They pump acid into the stomach, they maintain the salt balance, and they are the wall plugs that allow nerve cells to communicate with electric currents. In short, they are of vital importance for cell function. Even a partial reduction of activity can lead to diseases and termination makes life impossible.

In 2007 researchers at the centre published the structures of three P-type ATPases: A sodium potassium pump, a proton pump, and a calcium pump (Nature, 13 December).

Many drugs act on these pumps, e.g. some types of heart and ulcer drugs. The research at the PUMPKIN centre will lead to greater knowledge of the pumps, which will allow new and better drugs to be developed. PUMPKIN covers the life science spectrum from protein crystallography where the position of the individual atoms in the pumps are determined, to mouse models where the pump genes are manipulated in order to study the significance of the pumps in live animals.

The PUMPKIN laboratories are situated both at Aarhus University and the University of Copenhagen. Placed in beautiful natural settings, they offer high standard core facilities with state of the art equipment. Relying on expert knowledge within x-ray crystallography, biochemistry, molecular biology, plant and mouse models, and bioinformatics, the PUMPKIN Centre has a unique experience and a world-renown expertise in studying P-ATPases, including the Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase, different Ca²⁺-ATPase isoforms, H⁺,K⁺-ATPases, H⁺-ATPases, and the so-called heavy-metal ATPases.

Events

31. January - 1. February 2012

Pumpkin meeting in Copenhagen.
More information will follow soon.

Previous events

News

Awards: Maria Musgaard and Pontus Gourdon

12. October 2011

Post-docs Maria Musgaard and Pontus Gourdon both won one of the 10 "Best Presentation Award" at the ASBMB 13th International ATPase Conference - Na,K-ATPase and related P-ATPase.

Read more here

Prestigeous funding to Karin Lykke-Hartmann

8. October 2011

The Parkinson Foundation has awarded Asso. Professor Karin Lykke-Hartmann with a prestigeous funding for her research project "Dissecting dopaminergic signaling in basal ganglie".

Read more here

PhD opportunity: ATPases in development

5 October 2011

A PhD stipend is available at the PUMPKIN Centre in the research group of Asso. Professor Karin Lykke-Hartmann, Dept. Biomedicine, Aarhus Univeristy .

Read more here

Poster Prize Honorable Mention

7 Sepember 2011

Adriana K. Kantcheva won the RCSB PDB Poster Prize honorable mention or her poster "Structure of the chloride dependent E290S-LeuT mutant from Aquifex aeolicus"

Red more here

Protein pumps copper, silver and gold

1 July 2011

Researchers from the Pumpkin Centre, Aarhus University are the first in the world to map the structure of a protein that pumps copper ions across the cell membrane. The findings have been published in the leading scientific journal Nature.

Read more here

Scientists reveal new basic knowledge of cell membranes

17 May 2011

Scientists from the Danish National Research Foundation Centres PUMPKIN and inSPIN at Aarhus University have presented a ground-breaking method to study cell membranes. The results have been published in the leading journal Nature Communications.