“Previously, it was only possible to study one protein at a time, and observe the changes in it. But with the equipment and methods that are now available in proteomics, it is possible to carry out full-scale screening and achieve greater insight into the interplay between signal substances and receptors. Proteins are otherwise difficult to study because they are affected by so many factors and are constantly changing,” says Marit Bakke.

As a post-doc, she received a recruitment grant to form her own research group when the FUGE programme was launched in 2002.  Today, she is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedicine, and her molecular endocrinology research group is well established. Among other things, her group uses the production of steroid hormones as a model for studying how signals which affect cells regulate gene expression. This happens through proteins that bind to DNA, so called transcription factors.

“This interaction is highly complex. We are attempting to map how the activity of transcription factors is affected by cellular signals, and how changes in the composition of transcription factors change the gene expression,” says Ms Bakke.

A continuation of FUGE platforms
In the new project, they will be looking in particular at core receptors, i.e. “transport proteins” which are not located on the cell membrane but inside the core or in the cytoplasm.  This leads to a more direct contact between signal and transcriptional responses. This family of receptors, which has approximately 50 members, thereby plays a key role in regulating gene expression.

Ms Bakke's application was one of nine applications from the University of Bergen which received funds from FUGE in the grant awards announced just before the summer holiday. FUGE II runs until 2011. This week, the national platforms, which were established in 2002, were also notified that they will receive funding for an additional five-year period. The four technological platforms at the University of Bergen will receive more than NOK 40 million in total.

Great interest in the research
There is a great deal of interest in the potential applications of the results of this research, in the pharmaceuticals industry, for example.  

“With a better understanding of how transcription factors are affected by different cellular signals, and how they interact with other proteins, it may also be possible to develop medicines which influence receptors in such a way that they in turn can inhibit or stimulate genes. This could be potentially very significant for a number of diseases,” says Ms Bakke.