PhD defence: Saba Molhemi
Alzheimer’s Disease: A Bioenergetic and Energy Supply Perspective
Info about event
Time
Location
Auditorium G206-142, Aarhus University Hospital
On Thursday 29 October 2026 at 15:00, Saba Molhemi defends his PhD dissertation entitled “Alzheimer’s Disease: A Bioenergetic and Energy Supply Perspective”.
In Alzheimer's disease, both the supply of energy through the blood vessels and its production in the brain's cells are disrupted early. How these two sides are affected in mouse models of the disease is the subject of this PhD project from Aarhus University, Health.
The brain uses a fifth of the body's energy but keeps almost no reserves. Its energy metabolism can be measured non-invasively with phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS), but in mice this has required anesthesia, which itself alters metabolism. The project developed an MR-compatible setup for measuring in awake mice, and showed that the measurements are reproducible from day to day and that even low-dose isoflurane anesthesia lowers the brain's main energy reserve, phosphocreatine.
In a second study, two-photon microscopy was used to follow blood flow in the brain's smallest vessels after loss of the locus coeruleus, a small brainstem nucleus that supplies the brain with noradrenaline and is among the first regions to degenerate in Alzheimer's disease.
The methods are now combined in a mouse model of the disease to test, by awake 31P-MRS, whether energy metabolism is altered and whether loss of the locus coeruleus worsens it.
The summary is written by the PhD student.
The defence is public and takes place in Auditorium G206-142, Aarhus University Hospital. Please see the press release for more information.
Contact
PhD student Saba Molhemi
Mail: saba.molhemi@cfin.au.dk
Phone: +45 24451022