Eight Grants for Research in Bioscience, Metabolism, and Clinical Practice

A large group of researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, have received grants from the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Research Leader Programme. The researchers will research anything from CRISPR technology and protein behaviour to the human liver, cardiac arrest and anticoagulant drugs.

The Research Leader Programme is targeted at the most talented research leaders at all career stages within different fields of research. Within these fields, three types of grants are available depending on the career stage of the researcher in question. These are: Emerging Investigator, Ascending Investigator and Distinguished Investigator.

The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences has received grants within three fields of research, namely bioscience and basic biomedical research, endocrinology and metabolic research, and clinical and translational research.

Antiviral Resistance
Professor Jens Bukh, Department of Immunology and Microbiology and Hvidovre Hospital, has received a grant of DKK 10 million for researching antiviral resistance and its prevention in viral infections. In the project Jens Bukh will use hepatitis c virus as a model for studying antiviral resistance mechanisms. He will map the main molecules and viral and cellular elements at play in the development of resistance and explore their interaction.

Jens Bukh has received a Distinguished Investigator grant within bioscience and basic biomedical research. Project title: ’Basic studies unravelling the nature of antiviral resistance using innovative experimental culture and animal systems of hepatitis C virus as models’. Read more about the project.

Jens Bukh, (+45) 23418969, jbukh@sund.ku.dk

CRISPR
Guillermo Montoya, Professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, has received a grant of DKK 10 million. His research project will focus on deciphering the molecular mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas systems. These tools provide versatile molecular scissors technology for gene-editing. In this project his group will aim to decode the basis of new CRISPR-Cas systems involved in bacterial immunity and recently found bacterial defence systems distinct from CRISPR-Cas.

Guillermo Montoya has received a Distinguished Investigator grant within bioscience and basic biomedical research. Project title: ‘GENED_2.0: From Molecular Mechanisms to the Next Generation of Genome Editing Tools’. Read more about the project.

Guillermo Montoya, (+45) 35330663, guillermo.montoya@cpr.ku.dk

Protein behaviour

Dr. Joseph Rogers, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, has received a grant of DKK 10 million for researching new-found protein behaviours. The project will show how a new breed of drug-like compounds – cyclic peptides – have great potential to influence these proteins. Joseph Rogers will establish technology to discover cyclic peptides. With this, it is possible to synthesise and test trillions of unique cyclic peptides and identify new protein ligands.

Joseph Rogers has received an Emerging Investigator grant within bioscience and basic biomedical research. Project title: ‘Massive searches of sequence space to probe diverse protein behaviours’. Read more about the project.

The Human Liver
Postdoc and Doctor Nicolai J. Wewer Albrechtsen, Novo Nordisk Center for Protein Research, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Rigshospitalet, has received a grant of DKK 9.7 million for a project on the human liver. The project will explore and seek to understand how the liver works and which biochemical systems in the liver are impaired in obese individuals and patients with liver diseases. The project is a collaboration with Associate Professor Lise Lotte Gluud, Department of Clinical Medicine and the Gastro Unit, Hvidovre Hospital.

Nicolai J. Wewer Albrechtsen has received an Excellence Emerging Investigator grant within endocrinology and metabolic research. Project title: ’The Postprandial Human Liver’. Read more about the project.

Nicolai J. Wewer Albrechtsen, (+45) 29649329, nicolai.albrechtsen@sund.ku.dk

Cardiac arrest
Associate Professor Fredrik Folke, Department of Clinical Medicine, Herlev-Gentofte Hospital and the Capital Region of Denmark Emergency Standby Service, has received a grant of DKK 9.2 million. The project seeks to improve survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by getting citizens involved in early resuscitation. He will apply a novel and multifaceted approach of five steps, including use of heart runners, mounting of defibrillators in selected residential areas, artificial intelligence for cardiac arrest recognition and use of drones carrying defibrillators.

Fredrik Folke has received an Ascending Investigator grant within clinical and translational research. Project title: ‘Improving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival – a novel and multifaceted approach’. Read more about the project.

Fredrik Folke, (+45) 28182978, fredrik.folke@regionh.dk

Treatment in intensive care units
Professor Anders Perner, Department of Clinical Medicine and Rigshospitalet, has received a grant of DKK 9.7 million for a project seeking to improve the treatment provided in hospitals’ intensive care units. He will conduct clinical trials directly improving treatment, and through the new research project he will improve clinical trials as a method. This will make it possible to conduct more trials that are more likely to benefit patients suffering from blood poisoning, abnormal heart rhythm and loss of fluids and blood.

Anders Perner has received a Distinguished Investigator grant within clinical and translational research. Project title: ‘IMPROVE-ICU – improving intensive care through clinical trials’. Read more about the project.

Anders Perner, (+45) 35458333, anders.perner@regionh.dk

Fertility treatment
Professor Anja Pinborg, Department of Clinical Medicine and Rigshospitalet, has received a grant of just over DKK 7 million for a research project on fertility treatment. Together with her colleagues Anja Pinborg will determine how a new technique involving eggs that have been frozen and subsequently thawed affects the health of the child. They will study 600 children aged 6-8 years, who were conceived naturally or using fertility treatment with frozen and non-frozen eggs, respectively.

Anja Pinborg has received a Distinguished Investigator grant within clinical and translational research. Project title: ‘Health in Childhood following Assisted Reproductive Technology (HiCART)’. Read more about the project.

Anja Pinborg, (+45) 35456430, anja.bisgaard.pinborg@regionh.dk

Anticoagulant Drugs
Professor Lars Søndergaard, Department of Clinical Medicine and Rigshospitalet, has received a grant of DKK 7 million. Together with his research group Lars Søndergaard will test the optimal anticoagulant treatment for patients fitted with a cardiac valve implant using TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation). Among other things, the group will in a randomised study test two different anticoagulant regimes given to patients with abnormal heart rhythm.

Lars Søndergaard has received a Distinguished Investigator grant within clinical and translational research. Project title: ‘Prospective study on the impact of different anti-thrombotic therapies on prevalence of leaflet thrombosis in transcatheter aortic valves’. Read more about the project.

Lars Søndergaard, lars.soendergaard.01@regionh.dk

Read more about the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s research leader programme.