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Medical Scholars Were Celebrated

This year's recipients of scholarships, fellowships and research leader programmes within biomedical and publich health research were celebrated in Hellerup on Thursday.

There was smiles galore, comprehensibly, as the Novo Nordisk Foundation celebrated this year’s scholars within biomedical and public health research on Thursday.

A total of 16 scholarships, fellowships and research leader programmes were awarded, whereof 13 recipients were present at the event at the foundation’s headquarters in Hellerup. Here, the awardees all gave short introductions to their research projects before they were presented with flowers and a diploma.The topics of the research projects include cancer, side effects of vaccination, obesity among infants of mothers with diabetes, and children’s well-being when a parent has a serious illness.

Among the awardees was PhD Karen-Lise Garm Spindler, Clinician at the Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital. She was awarded a Clinical Research Fellowship of DKK 5 million over five years. The fellowship is given to enable highly qualified clinician scientists who hold a full-time clinical post to be relieved part-time from their clinical duties to do research. The objective is to build a bridge between clinical work and basic biomedical research in Denmark

– A grant of this magnitude is really difficult to obtain, so I was very surprised and pleased when I got the phone call. It means the world, because it is time-consuming and difficult to obtain funding for research, and it can slow down many key research areas, if you do not have the funding to operate the research.

– Now I can allow myself to think on a long term basis, because I have both the means and the time to make plans. It is a great privilege for me at this stage in my career to have this opportunity, said Karen-Lise Garm Spindler.

A STAMP OF APPROVAL

Another recipient was Anders Hviid, Senior Researcher at Statens Serum Institut. He received a Hallas-Møller Investigator Fellowship of DKK 11 million over five years. The fellowship aims to enable young researchers to expand their research group in Denmark and is – in terms of amounts – the largest of the grants awarded on Thursday.

– The importance of this grant cannot be underestimated – it allows us to continue our research in the years to come, it is a stamp of approval and a personal motivation, said Anders Hviid.

All grant recipients were singled out on the basis of applications submitted to and selected by the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s scientific committees.

The CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Birgitte Navntofte, congratulated the awardees:

– This is a day of celebration. Your research applications have been chosen in competition with many others. You should see your grant as an endorsement of your research and its potential. We hope that you and your research will blossom in the period in which you are supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

 

THE 16 AWARDEES:

CLINICAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS (4):

 

LARS REJNMARK
OVERLÆGE, PHD, DR.MED.

Project title: The influence of the vitamin D-parathyroid axis on health and disease
Institution: Medicinsk endokrinologisk afdeling, Aarhus University Hospital
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

 

ELISABETH MATHIESEN
PROFESSOR, OVERLÆGE, DR.MED

Project title: Diabetes and pregnancy – Focus on possibilities for prevention of fetal overgrowth
Institution: Center for Gravide med Diabetes, Rigshospitalet
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

KAREN-LISE GARM SPINDLER
MD, PHD

Project title: Clinical utility of cell free DNA analysis in colorectal cancer
Institution: Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

STEEN DALBY KRISTENSEN
OVERLÆGE, PROFESSOR, DR.MED.

Project title: Prevention of Thrombosis in Coronary artery Disease: Novel Mechanisms of Aspirin Treatment
Institution: Department of Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

HALLAS-MØLLER FELLOWSHIP (3)
CHUNARAM CHOUDHARY
PHD

Project title: Unraveling the regulatory landscape of lysine acetylation modifying enzymes
Institution: The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (CPR), University of Copenhagen
Size of grant: Up to DKK 11 million over 5 years

ANDERS PETER HVIID
SENIORFORSKER, DR.MED.

Project title: Adverse Effects of Vaccines
Institution: Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut
Size of grant: Up to DKK 11 million over 5 years

 

WOLFGANG PETI
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, PHD

Project title: Novel insights into insulin signaling and regulation using structural biology
Institution: Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen
Size of grant: Up to DKK 11 million over 5 years

NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION POSTDOC FELLOWSHIP FOR RESEARCH ABROAD (2)
ANDERS ETZERODT
M.SC., PHD

Project title: Investigation into the role and use of CD163 as a therapeutic target in tumor-associated macrophages
Institution: Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University
Place of research abroad: Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, France
Size of grant: DKK 4 million over 4 years

PETER REFSING ANDERSEN
PHD

Project title: Breaking down the rules of transcription in defense of the genome
Institution: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Place of research abroad: IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology GmbH, Vienna, Austria
Size of grant: DKK 4 million over 4 years

EXCELLENCE PROJECT (4)
JONAS THUE TREEBAK
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, MS, PHD

Project title: Role of NAD-salvage systems in mitochondrial function and insulin sensitivity: Implications for Type 2 Diabetes
Institution: The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

STEFANO ROMEO
MD, PHD, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN ENDOCRINOLOGY

Project title: Uncovering new pathways leading to insulin resistance
Institution: Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Gothenburg
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

 

NIKLAS BJÖRKSTRÖM
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, MD, PHD

Project title: Role for natural killer (NK) cell-mediated hepatic inflammation in progression from obesity induced NAFLD to NASH
Institution: Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

 

CHRISTIAN BENEDICT
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (DOCENT) OF NEUROSCIENCE

Project title: The role of the fat mass and obesity gene for sleep loss related health consequences in humans
Institution: Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University
Size of grant: DKK 5 million over 5 years

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN GENERAL PRACTICE/FAMILY MEDICINE (3)
ANETTE HAUSKOV GRAUNGAARD
PRAKTISERENDE LÆGE, PHD

Project title: Health and wellbeing in 8-15 years old children when a parent has cancer – a mixed methods study
Institution: Forskningsenheden for Almen Praksis, Københavns Universitet
Size of grant: DKK 500.000 over 2 years

MORTEN CHARLES
MD, PHD

Project title: Type 2 diabetes treatment in Danish Primary Care – Are we reaching the Triple Aim?
Institution: Section of General Practice, Dept. of Public Health, Aarhus University
Size of grant: DKK 1 million over 4 year

JETTE MØLLER AHRENSBERG
PRAKTISERENDE LÆGE, PHD

Project title: Seriously ill children in general practice – a study focusing on childhood cancer
Institution: Center for Forskning i Cancerdiagnostik i Praksis, Forskningsenheden for Almen Praksis, Aarhus Universitet
Size of grant: DKK 500.000 over 2 years