9 December 2020

Three young researchers has been awarded grants from the Danish Diabetes Academy

Grant

Three young researchers from the Department of Biomedical Sciences is among 14 diabetes researchers who will receive more than DKK 15 million for projects demonstrating that Danish diabetes research boasts talent and ambition reaching far beyond the country’s border.

The Danish Diabetes Academy (DDA) is rounding off 2020 by granting more than DKK 15 million to six PhD students, four postdoctoral fellows and four visiting professors. Three of the young researchers who have been awarded a grant is Stephanie Holm, Carolina Coimbra de Brito Lobato and Hannah Zakariassen.

This is the second time this year that the DDA has, in free and open competition, provided financial support to projects that will nurture and develop talented young diabetes researchers and Denmark’s research centres.

‘Diabetes research is necessary in many different areas. The DDA therefore provides support at various stages and in various areas. Some researchers will be discovering basic knowledge that can give us better insight into and greater understanding of the reasons why people develop diabetes, thus laying the ground for developing even better types of treatment for the disease and related complications in future. Others will base their research on existing knowledge and thereby take decisive steps toward the development of concrete tools and treatments’, says Allan Flyvbjerg, Chair of the DDA’s Board of Directors and CEO of the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen.

Grant recipients from the Department of Biomedical Sciences

Stephanie Holm

PhD Grant of DKK 1.1 mio.
Project title: The Impact of Medium Chain Fatty Acids in the Regulation of the Appetite Modulating Hormone, Liver Expressed Antimicrobial Peptide 2 (LEAP2)

Obesity that increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes has become a global challenge and there is a great need for more knowledge about how to prevent and treat obesity. In this respect, Stephanie Holm’s PhD project will focus on how a special type of fatty acid helps to control our appetite. 

Carolina Coimbra de Brito Lobato

PhD Grant of DKK 1.1 mio.
Project title: HypoBar: Unravelling post-bariatric hypoglycaemia towards improving healthcare and inspiring new glucose lowering therapies.

Carolina’s project focuses on finding a treatment for hypoglycaemia after gastric bypass operations. Gastric bypass operation have changed the lives of thousands of severely obese people. Unfortunately, some patients experience problems after an operation, and a late side effect is post-bypass reaction hypoglycaemia (PBH). During her PhD, Medical Doctor Carolina Brito Lobato will focus on this specific field. 

Hannah Zakariassen

Three-year Postdoc Grant of DKK 1.8 mio.
Project title: Mechanisms underlying appetite suppressing and weight lowering effects of combination treatment with neurotensin and GLP-1 agonists in mice

Can the effect of obesity operations be achieved by use of medical treatment only? And what happens in the brain when you give patients a combination of hormones that regulate the appetite? This will be the focus of Hannah Zakariassen’s Postdoc project supported by the Danish Diabetes Academy.