Emil Westi obtained his MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Copenhagen in 2022. He has recently completed a research stay at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Emil’s primary research interests lie within the field of neuroscience and pharmacology:
“I did my bachelor’s and my master’s thesis at NeuroMet [research group the University of Copenhagen] (…) primarily focusing on the metabolism of the brain, both in animal models and in cells. I have also worked with Alzheimer’s animals and investigated their metabolism. Recently, I have moved towards investigating microglia. While it is not a new cell type, it is not as well investigated as neurons and astrocytes, so I think that is very interesting. I would like to continue my investigation of this cell type, at least during the pre-PhD year, as it is also implicated in stroke.”
Emil is motivated by seeing results and experiencing how the work done in the laboratory leads to new insights. When asked what motivated him to apply for an NAD fellowship, Emil highlights the autonomy that the programme provides in relation to planning your PhD project: “You have a lot of freedom to structure your own research and decide the direction that you want to go in.”
Emil will do his first lab rotation with Professor Petrine Wellendorph of the Wellendorph Lab at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen. In the Wellendorph Lab, they have identified a new class of compounds for the protein target CaMKIIα, constituting 2% of all protein in the brain. Emil would like to experiment with what happens when you either stimulate or inhibit this protein target in microglia where it is also expressed – if time allows. Mostly, he is looking forward to learning more about the techniques employed in the lab.