Nanna MacAulay
Professor
Department of Neuroscience; University of Copenhagen
Biography
Nanna MacAulay researches the large quantity of water in the mammalian brain which is continuously shifted between the circulating blood and the brain parenchyma as well as between different compartments and cellular structures within the brain tissue. One presumes that the transport of water between these different compartments is under tight control since a disturbance in the cerebral water homeostasis (with associated changes in ion concentrations) may lead to neuronal dysfunction, hydrocephalus, and/or brain edema. However, the incomplete knowledge of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of cerebral water transport and their regulation currently prevents the research field from gaining a full understanding of this intricate and crucial pathophysiological issue. With this lack of identification of the implicated transport mechanisms and their dysregulation in pathology, pharmacological therapy is essentially unavailable for potentially life-threatening condition.
