Larsen Group - Mitochondrial Physiology

The Larsen group focus primarily on human integrative physiology in health and disease. Our main interest is on mitochondrial physiology and how this is affected with disease and by exercise training. We are looking at the whole body down to the mitochondria.

Research focus

We are focusing on the understanding of how mitochondrial function is affected by different intervention, such as exercise or diet supplementation. We are also interested in understanding how different drugs are affecting metabolism and mitochondrial function. Furthermore, we are also looking into how ageing affects the mitochondria. This research is conducted in human subjects, where we are going from whole body physiology to mitochondria physiology.

The specific goals of our research program are to:

Understand how physical activity affects metabolism and mitochondrial function and metabolism (substrate oxidation), to better understand the discrepancy between subjects in regard to a training adaptation. This will potentially lead to more personalized training programs.
Understand how different weight loss drugs affects metabolism and mitochondrial function.
Understand how different diet supplementations affect metabolism and mitochondrial function.

Techniques

Whole body phenotyping:

Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA scan)
Basal metabolic rate (BMR)
Maximal oxygen uptake (bike or treadmill)

Mitochondrial analysis

High resolution respirometry and fluorometry (oroboros.at)
- Respiration, H2O2 emission, mitochondrial membrane potential, calcium cycling
Enzyme activity
Protein content

The mitochondrial analysis are done in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and liver samples from humans, but we are also running these analysis in different animal models where other tissues are investigated.

Research projects

How weight loss drugs affects mitochondrial function
Exercise intervention in patients with type 2 diabetes
The effect of Coenzyme Q10 supplementation on different aging markers
Is exercise and statins a good combination

Collaboration

Collaboration with Nordic Bioscience, where we have a PhD student funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark (innovationsfonden.dk)
Collaboration with Novo Nordisk, where we have a PhD student partly funded by the Danish Diabetes Endocrine Academy (ddeacademy.dk)