The Novo Nordisk Foundation has just awarded its annual Steno Collaborative Grants for research projects to strengthen collaboration between the Steno Diabetes Centers in Denmark. The Foundation has awarded grants for 10 research projects – and for the first time, several grants include collaboration with universities in the United States and Canada to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the discovery of insulin in Canada.
“We want to help to celebrate the unique discovery of insulin a century ago and hope that these grants can help to strengthen collaboration with the strong research communities in diabetes at the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan and the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston,” says Martin Ridderstråle, Senior Vice President, Patient Care, Novo Nordisk Foundation.
For the first time, the Foundation has also awarded a Steno National Collaborative Grant, a major grant of DKK 25 million for a national research project involving all five Steno Diabetes Centers in Denmark. The main applicant is Allan Vaag, Chief Physician and Research Manager, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, who will collaborate with the other Centers in investigating how hereditary and lifestyle factors affect the development of type 2 diabetes, including prognosis, the disease trajectory, the effectiveness of treatment and the risk of comorbidities.
“Our project builds on an existing national collaboration around the Danish Centre for Strategic Research in Type 2 Diabetes (DD2) project cohort. The grant will enable us to really involve and draw on the very considerable expertise available in this field at all five Steno Diabetes Centers in Denmark. We have high expectations that, together with the globally unprecedented in-depth characterization of a similar cohort, we can finally achieve a real breakthrough in the knowledge of subgroups that is crucial for implementing better and more individualized treatment of people with type 2 diabetes,” says Allan Vaag.
“This is a very important step towards applying precision medicine in diabetes: who should receive what treatment and when?” adds Martin Ridderstråle.
The Foundation has also awarded five Steno Collaborative Project Grants of between DKK 3 million and 7 million for collaborative projects between the Steno Diabetes Centers and their affiliated research communities. The purpose of the grants is to specifically strengthen collaboration across the Steno Diabetes Centers.
A new application round for the Steno North American Fellowships and the Steno National Collaborative Grant has just opened.
Grant recipient, Steno National Collaborative Grant
Allan Vaag, Chief Physician and Research Manager, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen
Closing in on Sub-segmentation in Type 2 diabetes in the Danish Nationwide DD2 Cohort
DKK 25,000,000
Grant recipients, Steno North American Fellowships
Nikolaj Rittig, Postdoctoral Fellow, Aarhus University
Exploring the Gut–brain–metabolism Axis
DKK 500,000
Thomas Gardner, Physician, University of Michigan Medical School
The Macular Neurovascular Unit in Diabetic Retinal Disease
DKK 147,387
Margaret Hahn, Clinical Scientist and Associate Professor, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, Canada
Establishing Real-world Interdisciplinary Care and Research Approaches for Cardiometabolic Care in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSDs)
DKK 504,580
Morten Charles, Physician, Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus
Strengthening the Transatlantic Collaboration on Diabetic Neuropathy
DKK 500,000
Grant recipients, Steno Collaborative Project Grants
Kristine Færch, Professor, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen
Time-restricted Eating in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes
DKK 3,229,000
Marit Eika Jørgensen, Professor, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen
The Impact of Seasonal and Secular Climate Variations and Short-term Cold Exposure on Cardiometabolic Risk Markers in Arctic Inuit (the POLAR Project)
DKK 5,880,500
Moustapha Kassem, Professor, Odense University Hospital
The Role of Circulating and Bone Tissue MicroRNAs in the Pathogenesis of Type 2 Diabetic Bone Fragility
DKK 3,305,998
Signe Borgquist, Professor, Aarhus University
Type 2 Diabetes and the Clinical Course of Breast Cancer
DKK 6,894,720
Morten Frost, Specialist Physician, Steno Diabetes Center Odense
The Type One Diabetic Bone Collaboration Study (TONIC)
DKK 4,812,000
Further information
Christian Mostrup, Senior Programme Lead, +45 3067 4805, [email protected]
