Disputation: Nils-Anders Johannes Labba

Doctoral candidate Nils-Anders Johannes Labba at the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, is defending the thesis "In vitro models and methods for assessment of developmental neurotoxicity and neuroprotection" for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor.

Nils-Anders Johannes Labba

Photo: Hemispherian AS

The PhD defence will be fully digital and streamed directly using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defence will moderate the disputation.

Ex auditorio questions: the chair of the defence will invite the audience to ask ex auditorio questions either written or oral. This can be requested by clicking 'Participants -> Raise hand'.

Trial lecture

Epigenetics and its role in neuronal differentiation

Main research findings

Developmental exposure to neurotoxic insult is thought to be a contributory factor in the increasing incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders. Xenobiotic-mediated neurodevelopmental toxication can be a prolonged, subtle process involving both intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as genetic predispositions and interactions between numerous xenobiotic influences. Due the structure of modern society, prevention of exposure is often impractical, with xenobiotics of both pharmaceutical and industrial origin having been identified air- and water-ways, sewage systems, and food webs. When prevention is not possible, protection against damage is the next best course of action. However, in order for protective strategies to succeed they must be targeted, necessitating insight into both toxic and protective mechanisms. As neurodevelopmental studies involving toxic insults cannot and should not be undertaken in pregnant subjects or infants, pre-clinical methodology must be employed. In this work we utilized a variety of in-vitro models and methods to investigate the potential toxic and protective effects of a small set of xenobiotics of pharmaceutical, industrial, and synthetic origin. We found that exposure to paracetamol and to a mixture of environmental pollutants reduces the survival and alters functionally important structural aspects of neurons and neuron-like cells of both animal and human origin.

Read more

For mykje paracetamol hemmar hjerneutvikling (Titan, 19. jan. 2022. In Norwegian)

Published Jan. 21, 2022 10:00 AM - Last modified Feb. 25, 2022 1:10 PM