The Lundbeck Foundation awards grants worth DKK 120 million to three sophisticated brain research projects
The funding goes to neuroscience research partnerships, and the projects aim to: develop new therapies for Parkinson’s disease; detect early-stage changes in the brain in connection with brain disorders; and increase our understanding of a range of genetic networks in the brain that play key roles in schizophrenia
Talented researchers can do a lot on their own.
But if they join forces to resolve complex issues, each contributing their own specialist knowledge, they can do even more.
The Lundbeck Foundation supports such partnerships via its Collaborative Projects programme, which recently granted a total of DKK 120 million to three projects at Danish research institutions.
‘Basically, the reason the programme was launched was to promote synergy,’ explains Lars Torup, Scientific Programme Director at the Lundbeck Foundation.
‘The programme is all about supporting and promoting neuroscience research projects that are so complex and demanding that they’re impossible for one research team to handle on its own. If we’re to have a realistic chance of finding the answers to the challenges projects of this type pose, we need to rally strong research profiles from a variety of groups with diverse approaches to the field so that they can seek the answers and solutions together. And this is what the Lundbeck Foundation wants to support with our Collaborative Projects grants,’ says Lars Torup.
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Almost 60 scientific groups at Danish research institutions applied for a Collaborative Projects grant in 2020.
All projects were evaluated by a scientific committee which concluded that three of the neuroscience project candidates, in particular, had the qualities required to receive funding.
These three projects were subsequently assessed by international peers, and on the basis of their reviews were allocated a Lundbeck Foundation grant.
The grants are paid out over five years and have been awarded to:
Research Director Kasper Lage, DKK 50 million
Kasper Lage is director of research at the Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark (Psychiatric Centre Sct. Hans, Institute for Biological Psychiatry).
His project seeks to identify networks of proteins that play a role in schizophrenia.
Kasper Lage’s project is receiving a grant of DKK 50 million from The Lundbeck Foundation
Professor Martin Røssel Larsen, DKK 35 million
Martin Røssel Larsen is a professor at the University of Southern Denmark (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology).
The aim of his project is to cultivate mini-brains from cells taken from patients with brain disorders. These mini-brains can be used, among other things, to study biological changes in connection with brain disorders.
Martin Røssel Larsen’s project is receiving a grant of DKK 35 million from The Lundbeck Foundation
Professor Hartwig Siebner, DKK 35 million
Hartwig Siebner is a professor at Hvidovre Hospital and head of the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR).
His project aims to develop novel, magnetic field-based therapies for Parkinson’s disease.
Hartwig Siebner’s project is receiving a grant of DKK 35 million from The Lundbeck Foundation