Personal info
Lars Grøntved obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Southern Denmark in 2008. He did postdoctoral research with Gordon Hager at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, USA. Here he used functional genomics technology (e.g. DNase-seq and ChIP-seq) to study basic mechanisms regulating transcription factor (focus of Nuclear hormone receptors) interaction with chromatin. He specifically developed technology to probe for chromatin accessibility in tissue and collaborated with several NIH investigators to implement the technology. For his research at NIH he received a NCI Directors Intramural Innovation Award and a NIH Directors Award. In 2014, he joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at SDU.
General description of research
Many differentiated tissues possess striking transcriptional plasticity in response to metabolic changes. This ability to adapt to the environment is essential for the organism; however, adaptation is often linked to pathophysiology of disease such as obesity and diabetes. We aim to understand the underlying mechanisms for the environmental impact on gene transcription and study how the individual genome sequence directly affects the chromatin structure and the ability to react to the environment. We use the mouse liver as a model system and advanced functional genomics technology to understand the organization of chromatin structure genome-wide in response to feeding and diet induced obesity.
