Helle S. Waagepetersen

CV

• Nationalitet: Dansk
• Civil Status: gift, 2 børn

 

• Awards: 1997 H.C. Ørsted Award from Royal Danish School of Pharmacy; 2000 Post doctoral fellowship, FSS; 2004 Bøje Benzon stipend, The Benzon Foundation; 2007 The students Teaching award at Pharma, UCPH, 2007
• Funding ID 2008- (Euro): 2008-2011 FSS 193.000; 2008-2010 Lundbeck Fonden 230.000; 2008 Carlsberg Fonden 25.000; 2009-2011 FSS, virkemiddel: Kvindelige Forskningsledere: 770.000
• Invited presentations: 1998 American Soc. of Neurochem., New Orleans, USA; 1999 + 2008 First and Fourth Wierzba Conference, Poland; 2000 Winter Brain, Breckenridge, USA; 2003 American Soc. of Neurochem., New Port Beach, USA; 2004 6th Int. Brain Energy Meeting, Crete, Greece; 2004 American Soc. of Neurochem, New York, USA; 2005 American Soc. of Neurochem., Madison, USA.; 2005 Elected young investigator & speaker, the 20th Biennial Meeting of the Int. Soc. Neurochem.; 2008 10th Int. Neurosci Winter Conf., Sölden, Austria; 2009 American Soc. of Neurochem., Charleston, USA; 2009 The 22nd Biennial Meeting of the Int. Soc. Neurochem, Busan, Korea,
• Referee for: GLIA, J.Neurosci.Res., Neurosci., J. Physiol., J. Cereb .Blood flow and Met., J.Neurochem.; Neurochem.Res., Neurosci. Let.
• Editorial board member: J.Neurochem (handling editor), Neurochem.Res.; J. of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.
• Memberships of scientific organizing committees: 2006 7th Int. Brain Energy Meeting, Lausanne, Schwitzerland2008 ISN special topic conf., Beijing, China 2008 Wierzba IV: Glutamate in the tripartite synapse: functional and metabolic relations in norm and pathology, Poland 2010 9th Int. Brain Energy Meeting, Budapest, Hungary
• Organizer of symposium: 2004 American Soc. of Neurochem, New York, USA; 2007 21th Biennial Meeting of the Int. Soc. for Neurochem, Cancun, Mexico
• Member of: International Society for Neurochem.; Danish Society for Neuroscience; American Society of Neurochem.
• Publications and citations: I have published 5-10 original papers reviews and book chapters per year since 2004 and have 64 publications in total. The h-index is 22.

Primary fields of research

The research in NeuroMet is focused on energy and amino acid metabolism in the mammalian brain. Primary mouse cell culture systems of neurons and astrocytes from cerebral cortex or cerebellum are extensively employed. In addition, acutely isolated cortical prisms, isolated mitochondria and cell lines are applied as model systems. An array of 3H, 15N and 13C isotopes are utilized in the mapping of metabolic pathways and their regulation. HPLC and mass spectrometry are key analytical tools combined with biochemical assays, protein biochemistry, molecular biology and confocal microscopy.

Current research

Ongoing projects

• Elucidation of mechanisms involved in the regulation of energy metabolism in neurons during activation.
• Importance of heteroenzyme complex formation in regulation of astrocytic energy metabolism  
• Importance of glycogen for neurotransmission and brain function.
• Importance of GDH1&2 for neurotransmission and energy metabolism in neurons and astrocytes.
• Involvement of branched-chain amino acids in ammonia homeostasis of glutamatergic neurotransmission.
• Importance of the two isoforms of GAD, GAD65 and GAD67, for synthesis of GABA.
• Brain glycogen metabolism in relation to diabetes.
• Brain and muscle metabolism in hepatic encephalopathy.