RESEARCH SEMINAR

You are invited to attend a series of presentations on Friday, 13 November 2015 at Aalborg University. The lectures will last approximately 20 minutes each (incl. QA) and will be followed by an informal reception, where light refreshments will be served.

PROGRAM

12:30 pm Welcome by Department Head Henriette Giese 12:40 pm Presentation by Assistant Professor Thorbjørn Terndrup “Synthesis and applications of novel cyclodextrin polymers” 01:00 pm Presentation by Assistant Professor Kristian Trøjelsgaard “Spatial dynamics of species interactions” 01:20 pm Presentation by PhD Student Hülya Ucar Sokoli “From waste to valuable products” 01:40 pm Short break pm 02:00 pm Presentation by Assistant Professor Henrik Tækker Madsen “Working with Nature – biomimetic membranes” 02:20 pm Presentation by Postdoc Mads Albertsen “From world-class research to industry relevant products.” 02:40 pm Presentation by Assistant Professor Morten Dueholm “A glimpse into the fascinating world of functional amyloids” 03:00 pm Reception

REGISTRATION DEADLINE

30 October 2015 by email to Camilla Kristensen cakr@bio.aau.dk

RESEARCH SEMINAR

TIME AND PLACE

Friday, 13 November 2015 at 12.30 pm

Aalborg University (Auditorium) Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H

9220 Aalborg East

Morten Simonsen Dueholm

Assistant Professor Section of Biotechnology

Aalborg University

Thorbjørn Terndrup Nielsen

Assistant Professor Section of Chemistry Aalborg University

Thorbjørn Terndrup Nielsen did both his Master and his PhD studies at Aalborg University and was appointed Assistant Professor in organic chemistry in 2010 at Section of Chemistry. His research is within different aspects of organic synthesis, especially development of novel polymeric materials for biomedical applications. In the pharmaceutical industry, one of the major challenges is low solubility of many drugs leading to low bioavailability in the body. Hence formulation of hydrophobic drugs is often required in order to have the desired effect. Strategies to overcome these issues of hydrophobic drugs by use of carbohydrate polymers will be presented at the seminar.

Morten Simonsen Dueholm received his PhD degree in 2009 from Aalborg University where he worked as a researcher in the Protein Biophysics Group. During his PhD study, Morten Simonsen Dueholm employed biophysical techniques to study how bacteria use a special class of proteins, known as amyloids, for beneficial purposes. Amyloids are normally associated with devastating human conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's disease. This research provided insight as to how amyloid formation can be controlled, but it also uncovered a wealth of novel applications for the amyloid structure. Morten Simonsen Dueholm was soon employed as Postdoc at Section of Biotechnology and now Assistant Professor, continuing his work on functional amyloids by developing several recombinant model systems for studying functional amyloids in vivo – systems which are now used worldwide. At the seminar, Morten Simonsen Dueholm will provide a glimpse into the fascinating world of amyloids and show why these proteins are important to all of us.

Kristian Trøjelsgaard Assistant Professor

Section of Biology and Environmental Science Aalborg University

Mads Albertsen

Postdoc Section of Biotechnology

Aalborg University

Mads Albertsen received his PhD degree from Aalborg University in 2014 and is currently employed as researcher at Center for Microbial Communities (CMC), AAU. His research focuses on developing new methods to identify and analyze bacteria using DNA sequencing, a field where CMC is one of the world-leading groups. In 2014, Mads founded the spin-off company DNASense with three colleges from CMC. The company was initiated due to a large increase in demand from the industry to use the new DNA sequencing technologies, but no company provided the sample-to-answer turnaround that was needed. DNASense is currently working with numerous large Danish companies including Novozymes, Teknologisk Institut, DONG, Rambøll, Grundfos and Krüger. In his talk, Mads will share his experience of starting a new company and how to translate world-class, but often abstract, research into products that are useful to the industry.

Kristian Trøjelsgaard received his PhD degree from Aarhus University in 2014 and since October 2014, he has been Assistant Professor at Section of Biology and Environmental Science. In his research, Kristian focuses on ecological interactions and how they vary in time and space. Virtually no organism lives in complete isolation, and they are therefore influenced (either negatively or positively) by other organisms in their vicinity. Predation, parasitism, pollination and seed-dispersal are examples of biotic interactions that are frequently encountered in nature. Pollination and seed-dispersal interactions are main topics of Kristian´s research, and entire communities of interacting species are often explored with a network analytical approach. At the seminar Kristian will talk about pollination networks and how network analysis can increase our understanding of natural communities and their organization.

Henrik Tækker Madsen

Assistant Professor Section of Sustainable Biotechnology

Aalborg University

Hülya Ucar Sokoli

PhD Student Section of Chemical Engineering

Aalborg University

Hülya Ucar Sokoli graduated as civil engineer in applied chemistry in June 2013 and soon after, she was enrolled as a PhD fellow at Section of Chemical Engineering in Esbjerg. During the first two years of her PhD, she has been working on waste issues from the composite industries. Every year, it is estimated that around 10 million tons of polymer composite waste is generated worldwide. This waste cannot be recycled like e.g. plastic bottles and are therefore either deposited on landfills or burned. This is not sustainable in the long term, why new recycling technologies are required. At the seminar, Hülya Ucar Sokoli will present her latest recycling technology converting composite waste into valuable products.

Henrik Tækker Madsen is a chemical engineer with a PhD degree in environmental engineering. He is currently Assistant Professor at Section of Sustainable Biotechnology in Copenhagen and project leader in the clean tech company Applied Biomimetic. Here he is working with osmotic membranes, and how to improve these by mimicking Nature’s own processes. Osmotic membranes have a wide range of application and can be used for things such as drinking water treatment in outer space, production of renewable energy from seawater and enhanced production of bio-based chemicals. At the seminar, Henrik Tækker Madsen will present the core concepts of the technology and give examples on how the biomimetic technology can change the world we live in.