22 October 2026

Independent Research Fund Denmark awards funding to 20 SUND research projects

GRANTS

Twenty researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences have together received almost DKK 73 million from Independent Research Fund Denmark.

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From insulin resistance and brain tumours to infant gut development and the genetic history of the Faroe Islands. Funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark, researchers at SUND will investigate some of the major questions in health, disease and human history. Collage: University of Copenhagen.

Independent Research Fund Denmark has awarded more than DKK 584 million through its DFF-Research Project1 funding instrument. Among the recipients are 20 researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, who have secured almost DKK 73 million for curiosity-driven research in areas including cancer, metabolism, immunology, public health, global health and veterinary science.

The grants enable researchers to pursue original research ideas and generate new knowledge across the full breadth of Danish research.

Recipients

Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC)

  • Bjarne Winther Kristensen – Targeting tumor recurrence in patients with glioblastoma (DKK 3,672,000)
  • Joachim Lütken Weischenfeldt – Deconvolving mutational footprints in cancer genomes to uncover novel routes for precision oncology (DKK 3,633,958)
  • Eva Kummer – mitoR-DEG: Mitochondrial RNA turnover by the human degradosome (DKK 3,671,819)

Department of Biomedical Sciences

  • Jens Juul Holst – Dietary Tryptophan Metabolism as a Regulator of GLP-1 Secretion (DKK 3,253,298)
  • Dominik Karl Linz – Vascular Complications of Pulsed-Field Versus Radiofrequency Ablation (DKK 3,410,358)
  • Mette Marie Rosenkilde – Defining GLP 2R Signaling in Intestinal Physiology by Selective Antagonism (DKK 3,672,000)
  • Linn Gillberg – Mechanisms Underlying Metabolic Late Effects in Breast Cancer Survivors (DKK 3,668,405)

Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine

  • Abbas Jafari – Asparagine endopeptidase as a novel regulator of skeletal homeostasis (DKK 3,671,844)
  • Jesper Qualmann Svejstrup – ROLE OF DDI2 IN THE INNATE IMMUNE RESPONSE (DKK 3,669,959)

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR)

  • Atul Shahaji Deshmukh – Deciphering skeletal muscle insulin resistance at organelle resolution using spatial proteomics (DKK 3,670,830)

Globe Institute

  • Sandra Breum Andersen – Between fidelity and flexibility: The evolution of host association in bacteria (DKK 3,671,797)
  • Fernando Racimo – When hermits met longships: unravelling the genetic history of the Faroe Islands (DKK 3,603,263)
  • Luise Ørsted Scharff Brandt – MArKERS (Molecular Archaeology of Resources, Kinship, Environment, and Relations) (DKK 3,668,611)

Department of Public Health

  • Peter Møller – Oxidative damage to DNA by nanoplastics in gastrointestinal tract cells (DKK 3,356,530)

Department of Immunology and Microbiology

  • Charlotte Menné Bonefeld – The role of skin-resident memory T cells in the sensitivity to contact allergens and the spreading of allergic contact dermatitis (DKK 3,097,440)
  • Mads Gyrd-Hansen – LUBAC-regulation in T cell immunology (DKK 3,669,958)

Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences

  • Charlotte Bjørnvad – Predicting response to treatment in diabetic cats (PreDiCat) (DKK 3,667,511)
  • Jan Bojsen-Møller Secher – Perinatal pain perception in pigs (PainPig) (DKK 3,669,565)

Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences

  • Louise Kruse Jensen – Prevention of implant-related infections: Development of biomaterials with in-built innate immunotherapy (DKK 3,586,744)
  • Anders Brunse – EVOLVE - Extracellular vesicles from colostrum develop the preterm small intestinal mucus barrier (DKK 3,658,763)

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