Short presentation

Petrine Wellendorph graduated as a Master of Pharmacy from the University of Pharmaceutical Sciences (now University of Copenhagen) in 2001. She performed her PhD studies (2002-2006) in the group of Dr. Hans Bräuner-Osborne where she worked on the orphan family C G protein-coupled receptor GPRC6A. This involved cloning, deorphanization and cellular pharmacology as well as the generation of a GPRC6A knock-out mouse through a 6 month visit to the laboratory of Dr. Bernhard Bettler, University of Basel, Switzerland. Since 2006 Dr. Wellendorph has focused gradually more on the elucidation of the pharmacology and biological role of the naturally occurring compound g-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) - also known as the drug of abuse Fantasy/liquid X and the narcolepsy drug Xyrem/sodium oxybate. After one year as guest scientist at the University of Sydney, Australia in the laboratory of Dr. Mary Chebib, she returned to the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology in 2010 where she became associate professor (tenured) and in 2012 she moved to the Molecular Pharmacology Unit. She has since then built her own research group focussing primarily on brain receptors and transporters for GHB and GABA. In 2013 Dr. Wellendorph was awarded a Lundbeck Foundation Fellowship. Petrine Wellendorph is a member of the Young Academy of Sciences at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (www.youngacademy.dk).