Dr Michael Ploug
Disclosure details
NoneFinsen Laboratory, Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet and Biotechnology Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC), University of Copenhagen
Dr Michael Ploug is a Group Leader at the Finsen Laboratory with a dual affiliation to the Copenhagen University Hospital and the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Centre at University of Copenhagen. He received his MSc degree and PhD from the Institute of Biochemical Genetics at University of Copenhagen in 1986 and 1997. In 2004, he obtained the degree of Dr.Sci. for his work on the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). His research focuses on the biochemical and biophysical characterization of disease-relevant proteins and their ligands. His group aims to enlighten our understanding on how a given pathway maintains homeostasis in normal physiology and why certain aberrations—such as pathogenic genetic variants—cause dysregulation resulting in pathophysiology. To accomplish these goals he uses advanced biophysical tools including hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry, differential scanning fluorimetry (nano-DSF), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and mass photometry.
His current work focuses primarily on the biophysical aspects of intravascular lipolysis with special emphasis on the compartmentalization and regulation of LPL activity at the capillary luminal surfaces by GPIHBP1, ANGPTL4, ANGPTL3/8, ANGPTL3, APOC2, and APOA5. Central for maintenance of plasma triglyceride homeostasis is his finding that LPL is a metastable protein that becomes inactive at normal body temperature by spontaneous and irreversible protein unfolding. The positive regulators of LPL activity (GPIHBP1, HSPGs, and APOC2) stabilize LPL, whereas negative regulators destabilize LPL (ANGPTLs). Unexpectedly, he also found that ANGPTLs catalyze the inactivation of LPL by triggering unfolding and by virtue of that property; they are in essence enzymes (atypical unfoldases). Dr. Ploug works in close collaboration with Professor Stephen G. Young (Dept. of Human Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles) and Dr. Thomas J.D. Jørgensen (Dept. Biochem. Mol. Biol., University of Southern Denmark).
