Novo Scholarship awarded to DynaMo MSc student Peter Vig Millard

DynaMo MSc student Peter Vig Millard was awarded one of this years Novo Scholarships, given to outstanding and talented master students within the biomedical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological sciences. The grant consists of a monthly allowance of 7.000 kr for the duration of the MSc thesis project.

Thesis on structure-function relationship of proteins

Peter is working towards an MSc degree in Biology-Biotechnology at the University of Copenhagen. His MSc project is about structure-function relationship of proteins, more particularly about the structure-function relationship of MYB transcription factors in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

In the Arabidopsis plant, six MYB transcription factors control the expression of glucosinolate biosynthetic genes. The DNA-binding domains are almost completely identical across the six different proteins. The remaining ~2/3 of these proteins are much less conserved and much less is known about these parts, which are predicted to be highly disordered.

Disorder is important

Each of the transcription factors has its own distinct role, and the disordered parts may be important in determining these differences – and thus controlling when and where which genes should be expressed.

This is what excites Peter and in his MSc project, he uses a combination of techniques for studying protein-protein interactions (Native PAGE and Bio-layer interferometry), protein-DNA interactions (EMSA), and secondary structure (CD spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy) in order to study such differences.

Peter’s supervisor is Associate Professor Meike Burow, who is one of DynaMo’s four board members.

The Novo scholarships

The Novo Scholarship Programme offers a year of support to more than 30 master students from Denmark and Southern Sweden to complete their thesis within subjects related to Novozymes' or Novo Nordisk’s research areas.

Together with Peter Vig Millard, 10 master students from the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen were awarded Novo Scholarships 2015.