Bjørn Panyella Pedersen

Short CV

Bjørn Panyella Pedersen was born in Horsens, Denmark, and studied Biology and later Molecular Biology at Aarhus University. Early on his focus was on structural biology and he received his PhD in 2008 after solving the first structures of the proton P-type ATPase and the sodium/potassium P-type ATPase, two primary transporters that generate electrochemical gradients in plants and animals respectively. He did his post-doctoral research at University of California - San Francisco, where he did structural studies of calcium/proton exchange, relevant for plant abiotic stress pathways. In parallel he also worked on inorganic phosphate uptake by the endophyte fungus Piriformospora indica and described the first structural insight into phosphate uptake in eukaryotes. In 2014 he became a group leader at Aarhus University working on sugar transport as well as hormone transport in plants. The work of the group combines structural biology and biophysical methods and focus on similarities and differences of proton driven molecular mechanisms of transport in plants and eukaryotes more broadly. He is the recipient of several fellowships including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND fellowship at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies and an ERC Starting Grant followed directly by a ERC Consolidator Grant, combined with multiple other grants.

Selected Awards

• 2019, Elected EMBO Young Investigator Programme fellow
• 2015, DuPont Young Professor Award
• 2015, Elected member of Danish Young Academy under the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters
• 2015, ST Science Award from Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University
• 2008, Lundbeck Foundation talent prize
• 2007, Research selected as 'Structural Highlight of 2007' by Nature

Research Interests

Plant membrane transport. Membrane protein structure and function. Low resolution crystallography and cryo-EM methodologies. Proton-driven transport processes (transport of sugars, sterols, ions and hormones).

Selected Publications

• Bavnhøj L, Driller JH, Zuzic L, Stange AD, Schiøtt B, Pedersen BP. Structure and sucrose binding mechanism of the plant SUC1 sucrose transporter. Nature Plants 9(6):938-950 (2023).
• Ung KL, Winkler M, Schulz L, Kolb M, Janacek DP, Dedic E, Stokes DL, Hammes UZ, Pedersen BP. Structures and mechanism of the plant PIN-FORMED auxin transporter. Nature 609(7927):605-610 (2022).
• Bavnhøj L, Paulsen PA, Flores-Canales JC, Schiøtt B, Pedersen BP. Molecular mechanism of high affinity sugar transport in plants unveiled by structures of glucose/H+ symporter STP10. Nature Plants 7(10):1409-1419 (2021).
• Winkler MBL, Kidmose RT, Szomek M, Thaysen K, Rawson S, Muench SP, Wüstner D, Pedersen BP. Structural insight into eukaryotic sterol transport through Niemann-Pick type C proteins. Cell 179, pp. 485-497, (2019).
• Huang CS, Pedersen BP, Stokes D. Crystal Structure of the Potassium Importing KdpFABC Membrane Complex. Nature 546, pp. 681-5, (2017).
• Waight AB, Pedersen BP, Schlessinger A, Bonomi M, Chau BH, Roe-Zurz Z, Risenmay AJ, Sali A, Stroud RM. Structural basis for alternating access of a eukaryotic calcium/proton exchanger. Nature 499, pp. 107-10, (2013).
• Pedersen BP, Kumar H, Waight AB, Risenmay AJ, Roe-Zurz Z, Chau BH, Schlessinger A, Harries W, Sali A, Johri AK, Stroud RM. Crystal structure of a eukaryotic phosphate transporter. Nature 496, pp. 533-6, (2013).
• Gourdon P, Liu XY, Skjørringe T, Morth JP, Møller LB, Pedersen BP, Nissen P. Crystal structure of a copper-transporting PIB-type ATPase. Nature 475, pp. 59-64, (2011).
• Pedersen BP, Buch-Pedersen MJ, Morth JP, Palmgren MG, Nissen P. Crystal structure of the plasma membrane proton pump. Nature 450, pp. 1111-4, (2007).
• Morth JP, Pedersen BP, Toustrup-Jensen MS, Sørensen TL, Petersen J, Andersen JP, Vilsen B, Nissen P. Crystal structure of the sodium-potassium pump. Nature 450, pp. 1043-9, (2007).