Disputas - Cand. med Elias Myrvoll Lorentzen

Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her! / The doctoral thesis is available here!

Auditoriet er åpent for publikum og  trømmes og et opptak vil være tilgjengelig i et døgn.
The auditorium is open to the public. The defense will still be streamed, and a recording of the disputation will be available for 24 hours.

Prøveforelesning over oppgitt emne starter kl. 10.15 / The trial lecture starts at 10.15
Tittel/Title:  “Beyond the 6-well plate: 2.5D and #D cell culture systems for virus-cell interactions”
Prøveforelesningen strømmes her / The trial lecture will be streamed here

Disputasen starter kl. 12.15 / The defense starts at 12.15
Disputasen strømmes her / The defense will be streamed here

Populærvitenskapelig sammendrag av avhandlingen/ Summary of the thesis

BK Polyomavirus (BKPyV) establishes a lifelong infection in the kidneys of most humans. In kidney transplant patients, the virus can reactivate and cause BKPyV nephropathy, a serious disease that damages the transplanted kidney.

The aim of this thesis was to learn more about BKPyV replication and spread in the kidney, a necessity for development of future treatments. By characterising the antibody response in two patients with donor derived BKPyV nephropathy, we show that neutralising antibodies are not enough to cure BKPyV nephropathy. Experimental work with human kidney cells in cell culture demonstrates that for each infected cell that is killed by BKPyV, viruses are released and infect the neighbour cells. Some viruses hide inside detached dead cells, and possibly avoid neutralising antibodies.

Our findings suggest that BKPyV spread inside the kidney via the pre-urine, explain the focal distribution of BKPyV in diseased kidneys and stresses the need for an anti-viral drug.

 

Veiledere/ Supervisors:
Hovedveileder/Main supervisor:
Professor Christine Hanssen Rinaldo, Institutt for klinisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.

Biveiledere/supervisors:
Professor Kristian Prydz, Universitetet i Oslo
Førsteamanuensis Garth D. Tylden, Avdeling for mikrobiologi og smittevern, Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge

Bedømmelseskomité/Defensecomitee:
Professor Andrew Macdonald, University of Leeds – 1. opponent.
Senior Lecturer Dorian Mcilroy, Nantes University – 2. opponent.
Førsteamanuensis Lynn Butler, Institutt for klinisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet – leder av komité.

Disputasleder/ Leader of defense:
Førsteamanuensis Endre Anderssen, Institutt for klinisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.