DKK 25 million to development of databases supporting medical research

Databases and other facilities of excellent quality are crucial for strengthening Danish research in new medicine and treatment. Now, the field is receiving an energy boost.

Professor David E. Gloriam from the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology and Clinical Professor Sisse Rye Ostrowski from the Department of Clinical Medicine have received approximately DKK 12 million and nearly DKK 14 million, respectively. The funds come from the Novo Nordisk Foundation's Research Infrastructure Programme.

David E. Gloriam has received the DKK 12 million for the project titled "Online research infrastructure for receptor function and drug design". The project's focus is on a group of proteins called GPCRs, which are targets for one-third of all medicine. For example, medicine for the treatment of diabetes, infections, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

These proteins play a crucial role in transmitting various stimuli from the environment to cells, including hormones, signaling molecules, odours, and light signals. They also help regulate several essential physiological processes.

"The new data infrastructure will serve as an easy and comprehensive gateway for researchers to access a wealth of information and tools related to GPCR proteins and the drugs that can target them. There are also tools that researchers can use directly in their web browsers to design new experiments," says David E. Gloriam.

Infrastructure for personalized medicine research

Sisse Rye Ostrowski from the Department of Clinical Medicine has received nearly DKK 14 million for an infrastructure project named "An open core facility and multi-omics data science platform promoting disease-wide precision medicine."

The purpose of the infrastructure is to develop personalized medicine and improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment by expanding and professionalizing the use of existing health and genetic data, as well as new multiomics data.

"The infrastructure funds from the Novo Nordisk Foundation support an existing – and unique - data resource built at Rigshospitalet, with extensive genomic data from 460,000 patients and 150,000 healthy donors, coupled with registry data and medical journal data," says Sisse Rye Ostrowski. She adds:

"The data infrastructure will be enriched in 2024 with whole genomes from 60,000 healthy donors and proteomics data from 50-100,000. We expect that through strong collaboration with researchers from hospitals, universities, and SMEs, the data infrastructure will contribute to unlocking the potential of the unique Danish registries and journal data when combined with genetic and multiomics data. This will, in turn, advance personalized medicine."

Contact

Professor David E. Gloriam
david.gloriam@sund.ku.dk
+45 9356 5449

Professor Sisse Rye Ostrowski
sisse.rye.ostrowski@regionh.dk
+45 2443 0464

Journalist and Press Officer Liva Polack
liva.polack@sund.ku.dk
+45 35 32 54 64"