Lars Jørn Jensen

Short presentation

The central part of my research is understanding how small arterioles and arterioles detect a local change in blood pressure, blood flow or oxygen availability and translates it into a change in the diameter of the vessel. This is also called arteriolar tone regulation. In this process K⁺ channels are extremely important for setting the resting membrane potential of the vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells of the vascular wall. Voltage-dependent and receptor- or mechano-activated Ca²⁺ channels are important for providing the Ca²⁺ influx that is crucial for active constriction of the arterioles. Finally, I am interested in the molecular mechanisms that detect a change in pressure, flow or PO₂, and which leads to the downstream activation of signaling mechanisms in the vascular wall and changes in arteriolar tone.

Primary fields of research

• Myogenic response, flow-mediated vasodilatation and mechano-reception in blood vessels
• The role of voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels and receptor/mechano-activated cation channels in the regulation of tone and gene transcription in arterioles
• The role of voltage-gated and Ca²⁺ activated K⁺ channels arteriolar tone regulation
• Small systemic porcine arteries as a model of human peripheral vascular disease

Current research

• Characterization of arteriolar responses in Ca²⁺ channel knockout mice
• G-protein-mediated signaling and the vascular myogenic response
• Cellular signaling in flow-mediated vasodilatation in obesity, hypertension and aging
• Organoid culture of small peripheral arteries
• Characterization of small systemic porcine arteries (coronary, cerebral and mesenteric) as a model of the human systemic vasculature

Teaching

• Lectures, theoretical exercises and practicals on the physiology of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, acid/base-regulation and the autonomous nervous system for students of veterinary medicine, biology-biotechnology, human medicine, odontology and molecular biomedicine.
• Supervision of Ph.D., Master's, Research Year and Bachelor students within the regulation of the cardiovascular system

Knowledge of languages

English (fluent), Danish (native), German (basic), French (basic), Spanish (basic), Japanese (beginner)

CV

Education

• Ph.D. Physiology from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Copenhagen (1999)
• M.Sc. Biology from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Copenhagen (1995) 

Present and Previous Employments

• Associate Professor (faculty position), Department of Veterinary Clinical and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (since 2012)
• Associate Professor (faculty position), Department of Basic Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen (2009-12)
• Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (2007-09)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan (2004-06)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Physiology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (2002-07)
• Medical Writer, H. Lundbeck A/S, Valby (1999-2002)
• Research Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (1997-98)
• Ph.D. student, Zoophysiological Laboratory, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Copenhagen (1995-99)

Invited Lectures

• Long-term high-fat and/or -fructose diet in rats causes increased blood pressure and changes in vascular SK_Ca, IK_Ca and K_ir channel expression and function. 8^th Lübeck Workshop on Smooth Muscle Function, Lübeck, Germany.
• Long-term excess fat and/or fructose ingestion causes changes in small artery K⁺ transporter expression and function with effects on blood pressure. Pharmacological aspects of microvascular cell-cell signaling and CVS disease, Oxford, UK
• Regulation of local and conducted vasomotor tone in resistance-sized vessels. 10^th World Congress for Microcirculation, Kyoto, Japan.
• Significance of a_V3.2 T-type Ca²⁺ channels for pressure- and flow-dependent vasomotor responses in rat and mouse mesenteric small arteries. 11^th International Symposium on Resistance Arteries. Banff, Alberta (Canada), 8. september, 2014.
• Regulation of arteriolar tone by pressure- and flow-dependent mechanisms. Minisymposium on regulation of vascular tone. Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, 4 March 2014
• Myogenic Tone and Low-Voltage Activated T-type Ca²⁺ Channels. Danish Cardiovascular Research Academy summer meeting, 5 June 2013
• The role of low voltage-activated T-type Ca²⁺ channels in mesenteric resistance vessels in mice. Acta Physiologica Symposium on “Hemodynamic Mechanisms in Acute Kidney Injury”, Copenhagen, 10 October 2012.
• TRPC channels, PLC and PLA₂ pathways are not crucial for development of myogenic tone in mouse small mesenteric arteries, ScanGerman Physiology 2010 conference, 27 March 2010
• Regulation of arteriolar tone: functional studies in intact blood vessels. Symposium for Professor Emeritus Erik Hviid Larsen, August Krogh Institute, University of Copenhagen, 3 September 2010
• T-type calcium channels mediate calcium influx in response to KCl in rat mesenteric small arterioles, Danish Cardiovascular Research Academy summer meeting, 3 June 2004

 Teaching (overview)

Lectures, theoretical exercises and practicals of cardiovascular and respiratory physiology, acid/base regulation, and the physiology of the autonomous nervous system. Course responsible for the bachelor course in Advanced Mammalian Biology at the Biology-Biotechnology education.

Review- and assessment committees

Member or chairman of several assessment committees for Ph.D. theses, Research Grant Proposals and employment of university tenure track positions in Denmark and abroad. Reviewer for The Journal of Physiology, American Journal of Physiology (Heart and Circulatory), British Journal of Pharmacology, Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Journal of Neurophysiology, Acta Physiologica (Oxford), Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, Journal of Smooth Muscle Research, and Journal of Comparative Physiology (Part B). 

Courses

Certified to teach English Language course, project management courses, research group leadership course, and various scientific courses and workshops.

External Funding

Until now I have attracted approx. DKK 5.3 mio. for my independent research projects from The Danish Medical Research Council as well as from several private foundations

Current Research Methodology

Pressure myography of small arteries, calcium imaging of pressurized small arteries, organoid culture of small arteries under pressure and flow, in vivo and in vitro pharmacological studies, immunofluorescense microscopy, quantitative real-time PCR

Memberships

• Danish Cardiovascular Research Academy (DACRA)
• Scandinavian Physiological Society
• The Danish Heart Foundation
• American Physiological Society
• North American Vascular Biology Organization
• The Physiological Society (UK)