Per Svenningsen

Research interest

We explore how extracellular vesicles (e.g., exosomes and microvesicles secreted from all cells) regulate physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms in cardiovascular and renal diseases. To this end, we use cell and animal models to gain insight into the pathogenesis of, e.g., acute kidney injury and endothelial dysfunction in obesity.

Our research is translational. We collaborate with clinicians at the nearby Odense University Hospital, which enables us to test our hypotheses in samples obtained from human patients too. The use of extracellular vesicles allows us to analyze human renal and cardiovascular diseases' molecular regulation by using the extracellular vesicles as a liquid biopsy.

Our approaches, thus, range from molecular to human studies and enable us to undercover disease mechanisms in, e.g., metabolic diseases such as diabetes.

Methods and Techniques  

• Immunohistochemistry (light-, laser scanning confocal-, multi-photon microscopy),
• Cloning
• Cell culture (Transient and stable expression systems, knock-down, CRISPR)
• Western blotting
• Quantitative PCR
• Studies on human kidney tissue
• Various transgenic and cell-specific knockout models
• Metabolic studies of renal function in animals
• Exosome characterization
• Adeno-associated virus (AAV) production and in vivo transduction 
• Recombinant protein expression and purification
• Antibody development and characterization
• Electrophysiology: Patch Clamp (Whole-cell patch configuration, single channel recordings), lipid bilayer and Ussing chamber studies

Collaborations within SDU

Ditte Caroline Andersen
Hans Christian Beck
Yaseelan Palarasah

Support recieved from

Novo Nordisk Foundation
Lundbeck Foundation
Danish 3R Center
Carlsberg Foundation
Innovation Fund Denmark
Independent Research Fund Denmark

Information for students

We are always looking for highly motivated students at the bachelor-, ITEK-, and master-level. If you are interested in our research and projects, then contact me at psvenningsen@health.sdu.dk

Members of the research group

Mikkel Ørnfeldt Nørgård, PhD student 
Jannik Hjortshøj Larsen, PhD student
Sai Sindhu Thangaraj, PhD student
Emilie Grupe, PhD student
Mia Jensen, PhD student
Didde Riisager Hansen, Master student
Mohamed Ahmed, lab technician
Seham Bouziri, lab technician-trainee