New World-Class Protein Research Centre

The largest donation ever to Danish basic research gives new hope of being able to provide much more targeted and effective treatment of many diseases, including cancer, diabetes, dementia and overweight in the future.

The biggest donation in University history

With a donation of DKK 600 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation it will be possible to build a new centre for protein research at the University of Copenhagen, making Denmark’s capital a global hotbed for health science research.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research will be located at the Faculty of Health Sciences. After its opening in 2008, it will house 5 research groups consisting of leading Danish and international protein researchers and experts.  The researchers will have access to the most advanced laboratory facilities to study human proteins and their significance for health and disease.

“Thanks to this exceptional donation, we can boost research into what proteins look like and how they behave and interact in cells and tissues in healthy and sick people. This insight will provide entirely new opportunities to discover and develop new medicines. By mapping the structure and function of proteins in the healthy human body, we can gain a much better understanding of what goes wrong when you get a disorder and how diseases can be treated more effectively, for instance with tailored proteins as drugs,” explains professor Ulla Wewer, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

What do proteins do?

The human body works with the help of an enormous number of proteins that control the body’s daily functions. Proteins build cells, tissues and organs. They also produce hormones, enzymes, transport molecules, antibodies and neurotransmitters.

“Recent years’ mapping of the human DNA is a fantastic achievement, but its practical value is still quite limited. We can read the individual letters in the genetic code, but we don't understand what the words mean. That’s why we need to learn much more about the proteins which the genes code for. This journey into the world of proteins will be the main task for the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research,” says Gert Almind, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

“The Centre will be a dynamo for the entire biotech research community in Denmark and it will especially be a hotspot for the protein researchers of the future. This will strengthen Danish efforts in the area of tailored proteins as tomorrow's drugs," says Ulf J. Johansson, dr.techn. and chair of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Contacts:

Ulla Wewer, Dean, Professor, DMSc, Faculty of Health Sciences, tel. +45 2875 7051 or Birgitte Nauntofte, Vice-Dean, Professor, DMSc, Faculty of Health Sciences, tel. +45 2875 7052 Gert Almind, DMSc, CEO, Novo Nordisk Foundation, tel. +45 4443 9035 Ulf J. Johansson, dr.techn., Chair, Novo Nordisk Foundation, tel. +45 4443 9035