Department of Cellular and
Molecular Medicine

H Nielsen Group

The research interest of H Nielsen group is RNA biology with emphasis on catalytic RNA and epitranscriptomics.

dekorativt bilede

Current project areas

The flexibility and evolutionary adaptability of RNA-guided nucleotide modifications
Specialized ribosomes (including cancer ribosomes)
The role of helicases in ribosome biogenesis
New RNA cap structures
The lariat capping ribozyme
Characterization of the circularization pathway in group I introns

Collaborators

Anders Lund and Martin Jansson (BRIC, Copenhagen)
Peter Brodersen (Copenhagen)
Kirsten Grønbæk and Fazila Asmar (Copenhagen)
Markus Bohnsack (Göttingen) and Nick Watkins (Newcastle)
Jérôme Cavaillé (Toulouse)
Carsten Geisler and Martin Kongsbak-Wismann (Copenhagen) and Monika Wolkers (Amsterdam)
Daniel Wilson (Hamborg)
Steinar D. Johansen and Igor Babiak (Bodø)
Ferdinand von Walden (Stockholm)

More than 30 years of experience in teaching of cell biology and RNA biology at bachelor and masters level. Organizer of >20 experimental ph. d. courses. Considerable experience in dissemination of science to the general public.

Selected publications

Nielsen, H.*, Westhof, E., and Johansen, S.: An mRNA is capped with a 2’, 5’ lariat catalyzed by a group I-like ribozyme. Science 309, 1584-1589 (2005) [^*Corresponding author].
Beckert, B., Nielsen, H.^*, Einvik, C., Johansen, S. D., Westhof, E., and Masquida, B.^*: Molecular modelling of the GIR1 branching ribozyme gives new insight into evolution of structurally related ribozymes. EMBO Journal 27, 667-78 (2008) [^*Co-corresponding authors].
Meyer, M., Nielsen, H., Oliéric, V., Roblin, P., Johansen, S.D., Westhof, E., and Masquida, B.: Speciation of a group I intron into a lariat capping ribozyme. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111 (21): 7659-7664 (2014).
Birkedal, U., Christensen-Dalsgaard, M., Krogh, N., Sabarinathan, R., Gorodkin, J., and Nielsen, H.: Profiling of ribose methylations in RNA by high-throughput sequencing. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 54(2):451-5 (2015).
Krogh N, Jansson M.D., Häfner S.J., Tehler D., Birkedal U., Christensen-Dalsgaard M., Lund A.H., Nielsen H.: Profiling of 2'-O-Me in human rRNA reveals a subset of fractionally modified positions and provides evidence for ribosome heterogeneity. Nucleic Acids Res. 44:7884-95 (2016).
Hebras, J., Krogh, N., Marty, V., Nielsen, H.^*, and Cavaillé, J*.: Developmental changes of rRNA ribose methylations in the mouse. RNA Biology 17:150-164. (2020) [^*Co-corresponding authors].
Krogh, N., Asmar, F., Côme, C., Munch-Petersen, H. F., Grønbæk, K., and Nielsen, H.: Profiling of ribose methylations in ribosomal RNA from diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients for evaluation of ribosomes as drug targets. NAR Cancer 2(4):zcaa035 (2020).
Aquino, G. R. R., Hackert, P., Krogh, N., Pan, K-T., Jaafar, M., Henras, H., Nielsen, H., Urlaub, H., Bohnsack, K., and Bohnsack, M.; The RNA helicase Dbp7 promotes domain V/VI compaction and stabilization of interdomain interactions during early 60S assembly. Nat. Comm. 12(1):6152 (2021).
Jansson, M. D., Häfner, S. J., Tehler, D. E., Altinel, K., Krogh, N., Jacobsen, E., Andersen, J. V., Andersen, K. L., Ménard, P., Nielsen, H., and Lund, A. H.: ^.Ribosomal RNA methylation induced by MYC impacts translation to promote cell proliferation. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 28(11):889-899 (2021).