Brian Lohse

Primary fields of research

Research interests

- Epigenetics, with focus on disease, basic molecular mechanisms of action and pharmacology.

- Design and synthesis of mechanism based inhibitors for Histone modifyiers.

- Phage Display technology

Knowledge of languages

English

German

Greek

Swedish

Teaching

I'm currently teaching all levels of University education: Ph.D.-Courses, Master courses and Bachelor courses.

Project supervision of Postdoc, Ph.d.-, Master and Bachelor students

CV

Brian Lohse, Ph.D.

Associate Professor in Chemistry and Molecular biology.

EpiDiscovery

Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.

Appointed Associate Professor by a unanimous evaluation board consisting of three prominent chemistry professors (Morten Meldal, Jesper Wengel and Peter Somfai).

Diplomas & Certificates :

2012 English proficiency certification 2010 Project Management Diploma, at Implement Consulting Group P/S. Consisting of 3 modules (A, B, C), 11^th of November; Higher Education Teaching Certificate, 1 year education, with assessment of Project Management, Teaching and Lecturing (Phase 2) 7^th of March 2009 Higher Education Teaching Certificate, 1 year education, with assessment of Project Management, Teaching and Lecturing (Phase 1) and International Education in Drug Discovery and Development, at TI-Pharma and School of Medicinal Chemistry Leiden, Holland 12^th of March. 2007 Awarded a Ph.D.-Degree at DTU/Risø, 30^th of April, in the Danish Polymer Centre, under supervision of Professor Søren Hvilsted at DTU and at Risø under supervision of Dr. Rolf H. Berg, and Research specialist P.S. Ramanujam. 2003 Awarded a Master degree of Science in Chemistry and Molecular Biology at Roskilde University Centre, under Professor Fritz Duus. The Master Thesis was done at Novo Nordisk A/S in the Department of Chemical Development under the supervision of Dr. Heinz-Josef Deußen. 2001 Awarded a Bachelor degree of Science in Chemistry and Molecular Biology at Roskilde University Centre.

Awards and funding :

2013 Region Hovedstaden, Gentofte Amtssygehus, Exploratory Pre-Seed Grant. (212.325 d.kr.) 2012 invited member of the management committee in the EU-COST action: EPIGENETICS: Bench to Bedside 2011 Lead Discovery Unit, University of Copenhagen for Peptide and specific compound libraries for screening PRMT’s to obtain selective inhibitors. (140.000 d.kr.) 2010 Competence Foundation, University of Copenhagen  (20.000 d. kr.) 2010 Danish Cancer Society for Inhibitors of Histone Lysine Demethylases  Co-receiver 1/3 (1.2 mill. d. kr.) University of Copenhagen, for Epigenetic Research Co-receiver 1/3 (800.000 d. kr.) 2008 Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation Fellowship (1.5 million d.kr.) 2006 First place winner in the Young Investigators' Competition at the Materials Research Symposium, awarded by University of California Santa Barbara, January, California. Torben og Alice Frimodts foundation fellowship(25.000 d.kr.) 2005 Third place winner in the Young Investigators' Competition. Awarded by the American Peptide Society on the 19^th American Peptide Symposium, June, San Diego, California. Institut for Kemiteknik, DTU, fellowship (35.000 d.kr.) Otto Mønsted Foundation fellowship (20.000 d.kr.) Augustinus Foundation fellowship (10.000 d.kr.)

Work experience:

2012- Associate Professor in Chemistry and Molecular biology (Epigenetics) at Uni. of Copenhagen (full time) 2009-2012 Senior Postdoc/ Project Manager at Uni. of Copenhagen (full time). 2006-2009 Post doc. at Uni. of Copenhagen, BioNanotechnology (full time). 2005-2006 Visiting Researcher at Uni. of California SB (full time). 2003-2006 Ph.D.-study at DTU/ Risø (full time). 2002-2003 Chemist at Novo Nordisk A/S in chemical development 2002 Lecturer at Risø’s visitor centre (5 man-months). 2001 Military Service in the Civil Defense (full time). 2000 Equipment Manager in Gate Gourmet A/S (full time). 1995-1998 Co-Founder and co-owner of PC-Training A/S (full time).

Teaching Portfolio:

Brian has more than 1500 hours of teaching experience, covering all levels, Ph.D., Master and Bachelor. In addition I have been co-supervisor of 4 Master students and 4 Bachelor students. I’m currently co-supervisor for 2 Ph.D.-students, 1 Research Assistant and 2 Master Students that are all continuing my work on the Inhibitors of Histone modifying enzymes and 1 lab. Technician. I participate in the pedagogical debate at the University (see my main article in Plexus nr. 3, p. 8, May 2010). In depth investigation of the education on laboratory courses at Pharma (see my chapter in the book ”Improving University Science Teaching and Learning” 2009, s. 63-73; ISSN: 1904-2019) and participation in the launch of a new education the “Master in Medicinal Chemistry”. Awarded the teaching certificate for higher education at Universities, in order to give the students better educational guidance and feedback, this education takes one year (2009/ 2010). Furthermore I have passed all modules in Project Management, to better be able to steer my scientific projects and become more result oriented. Danish Cancer Society, grant (see Plexus nr. 4, p. 18, Sep. 2010) and Pharma News 27^th of May 2010).

Current research

Chemical tools for Epigenetic Protein Families.

Epigenetic signaling controls gene regulation and repair, and is implemented in the cell via post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, methylation and acetylation, of chromatin. The enzymes responsible for writing and erasing these chemical modifications that are located on the histone tails, may contribute to finding new therapeutic targets. New ligands can be used as chemical tools to gain insight into the impact of these modifications.

One enzyme family that is involved in these chemical modifications on the histone tails, are histone 3 lysine 9 (H3K9) demethylases. These demethylases have been shown to be involved in the development of a wide range of diseases, such as cancer, X-linked mental retardation and congenital heart disease, to mention a few. But H3K9 demethylases have also been linked to the regulation of self-renewal in embryonic stem cells, trough reversal of the H3K9 trimethylated marks at specific promoter regions, thereby preventing transcriptional repressors from binding.

Using phage display, enzyme kinetics and medicinal chemistry related strategies, we are studying the effect of various chemical tools synthesized in our group on the epigenetic protein families. Also we are investigating histone tail peptide modifications, such as phosphorylation, acetylation and methylation, through synthesizing mimics of the identified marks found in vivo. These in vitro experiments are used to asses the local effects of two marks on the same histone tail, also known as cross talk effects. This strategy is anticipated to contribute to our understanding of the dynamic processes underlying chromatin regulation and has the potential, through further development, to design specific inhibitors towards one member of the histone lysine demethylase family for epigenetic therapy.

Fields of interest

Research interests

- Synthesis of mechanism based inhibitors for Histone Demethylases, hereunder peptide chemistry.

- Assay development and drug delivery systems based on dendrimers.

- Transmembrane proteins, liposomes, enzymes, fluorescence techniques and photochemistry.