Lærke Smidt Gasbjerg receives grant to research individual diabetes treatment

Lærke Smidt Gasbjerg, Doctor, Ph.D. and Postdoc at the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Copenhagen is one of three recipients of the Danish Diabetes Association's research grant of DKK 600,000.

The grant will support Lærke Smidt Gasbjerg in investigating how medical treatment of type 2 diabetes can be optimized depending on the individual genetic changes of the hormone receptors that receive the signals that intestinal hormones send to the body about, among other things, nutrients, appetite, and adipose tissue.

The efficacy of hormone receptors has already been studied in the laboratory, but now, sugar stress tests, hormone infusions, and measurements of body composition will define the consequences of these genetic changes in people with type 2 diabetes.

The hope is that the results may show whether a person with type 2 diabetes should be tested for particular genetic changes for optimal individual treatment and guidance.

Both current and future treatments and medicines are increasingly based on measurements and information about the individual, thus bringing us closer to personalised medicine.