22 June 2022

Lykke Sylow receives the Anders Jahre Award for young researchers

HONOUR

Associate Professor Lykke Sylow from the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Dept. Nutrition, Exercise, and Sports at the University of Copenhagen receives the prestigious Anders Jahre Award for young researchers for her research in the molecular causes of insulin resistance and loss of muscle mass.

Lykke portrait.
Foto: København Universitet.

Each year, the University of Oslo awards the Anders Jahre Awards for excellent research within basic and clinical medicine to researchers from the Nordic countries. One of the awards is earmarked for young researchers and comes with a personal prize of NOK 400,000.

Lykke Sylow shares this year’s Anders Jahre Award for young researchers with Lars Wiuff Andersen from Aarhus University.

The causes of loss of muscle mass in cancer and type 2 diabetes

Associate Professor Lykke Sylow from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen receives the award for her outstanding studies of the molecular metabolic causes of loss of muscle mass in patients with cancer and type 2 diabetes.

“It is a true honor for me to be receiving this award and a tremendous encouragement. I am forever grateful for my mentors and research team whose support made it possible,” says Lykke Sylow.

Lykke Sylow’s research focusses on how the hormone insulin and physical exercise, respectively, regulate muscle mass and glucose metabolism. Among other things, her research has provided new knowledge of the connection between reduced sensitiveness to insulin and loss of muscle mass.

Lykke’s research is characterised by her strong commitment to cross-disciplinary research coupling clinical research in diabetes, ageing and cancer with molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology in an unprecedented way.

A meteoric career

During her master’s, Lykke Sylow received a Novo Scholarship and her thesis earned Lykke the University of Copenhagen Gold Medal, which is awarded once a year for the best exam papers.

In 2014, Lykke completed her PhD project at the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Science. Both as a PhD student and a postdoc, Lykke has studied abroad, and she has received prestigious grants from i.a. the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Carlsberg Foundation and the Independent Research Fund Denmark. Since July 2021, Lykke has been employed with the Department of Biomedical Sciences as an associate professor.

“Lykke Sylow is one of the Nordic countries’ leading young researchers in insulin resistance and its role in loss of muscle mass. As a researcher, she distinguishes herself by her large number of international and national collaborations, and she is a huge inspiration and talented mentor to younger researchers,” says Head of Department Cathrine Ørskov.

Contact

Associate Professor Lykke Sylow
Email: lykkesylow@sund.ku.dk
Department of Biomedical Sciences