I am fascinated by the complexity of physiology and the fine-tuning of so many cellular processes to make it all work.

Associate Professor Rikke Nielsen’s research focus is parted in two: The kidney and the eye. The link between them is that certain epithelia-tissue in both organs are dependent on the receptor megalin.

“When megalin is dysfunctional it can affect both the kidney and the eye. It can cause high myopia and retinal degeneration in the eyes. In the kidney, it results in proteinuric kidney disease,” Rikke Nielsen explains.  

“I am fascinated by the complexity of physiology and the fine-tuning of so many cellular processes to make it all work. The kidney is mind-blowing in this context. And the eye – vision is such a delicate interplay of so many cellular processes and cell types. This is indeed fascinating,” she says.

Rikke Nielsen’s research aims at clarifying cellular mechanisms. Such basic knowledge might enable us to treat certain eye- and kidney diseases, and the projects, she is currently working on, express this ambition.

The megalin-expressing epithelia of the eye are both barrier epithelia. One controls delivery of vitamin A to rods and cones, and the other is responsible for the production of aqueous humor - a transparent water-like fluid. Rikke Nielsen’s current projects focus on the role of megalin in these processes to understand why high myopia, retinal degeneration and age-related eye diseases develop when megalin is dysfunctional.

“In the kidney megalin ensures that we do not loose proteins and vitamins in the urine. During kidney disease, megalin is struggeling intensively to keep up and fullfill this task. We are intested in how this contributes to disease progression, but also how megalin interacts with other proteins to maintain  the function of this kidney segment, such as acid-base balance,” she explains.

”I hope that the knowledge we achieve will feed into our basic understanding of the organs, but also be usable to understand disease mechanisms, which can be used in precision treatment of patients.”