Professor and group leader Niels Mailand receives the prestigious EliteForsk Award 2015

Niels Mailand, Professor and Group leader at Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research

Niels Mailand receives the EliteForsk Award, awarded annually to five of Denmark’s most talented researchers

The awards will be presented today by H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary at a ceremony at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen and the Minister for Higher Education and Science Sofie Carsten Nielsen.

'The EliteForsk awards are not just a recognition of the country’s most talented researchers, it is also an investment in the future. Research will expand our knowledge of the world and help provide some answers to the great challenges we face. From the treatment of life-threatening illnesses to better insight into our cultural legacy to new forms of sustainable energy´, says Sofie Carsten Nielsen

Jiri Lukas, Executive Director; Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Center:

I warmly congratulate Niels for this fantastic achievement! His recognition as an elite scientist is absolutely deserved – and I know what I am talking about. I have had the privilege to follow Niels’ work for nearly two decades and it has been a fascinating experience to see him develop from the exceptionally talented student all the way up to the fully matured scientist, whom I rank amongst the most influential and productive young researchers I have ever met. As a matter of fact, I have to admit that although in the past I often officially acted as his ‘mentor’, this term had rather quickly turned around – very early in his career, Niels has become a close colleague of mine, a true partner in science, whose experimental skills and original thinking have had a highly inspiring influence on my own ideas about how protein signaling protects our genomes against various disease-predisposing assaults.

Read more about the award and Niels Mailand on the Ministry for Higher Education and Science homepage

Watch a profile interview with Niels Mailand produced by the Ministry for Higher Education

Read Press Release from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen (in Danish)