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DKK 75 million in grants from Independent Research Fund Denmark for researchers at Natural Sciences

Science research has received a major funding boost. Independent Research Fund Denmark has awarded DKK 180 million to researchers at Aarhus University, of which DKK 75 million has gone to 24 research projects from Natural Sciences. Nat. 

Photo: AU Foto

The research projects range extremely broadly; from studying proteins in Stone Age bone remains, to improving methods to find biosignatures on Mars, studying Russian and Ukrainian invasive inbred mussels, and investigating how stress affects our cells.

Michael Møller Hansen, professor of genetics, ecology and evolution at the Department of Biology, is leading a research project to study highly inbred zebra mussels. The mussels have come all the way from Russia and Ukraine with ship ballast water. Inbreeding usually impairs a species development and survival, but the zebra mussel is thriving. And this puzzles the researchers:

"Inbreeding and success is truly a genetic paradox that has long been discussed. We have hypothesised that the mussels purge the harmful genetic variations as they travel here, and we want to investigate this." The research project has been granted DKK 3,152,571.

Ulf Andersson Vang Ørom is an associate professor of RNA biology and innovation at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and he is investigating a specialised shelter that forms to protect the “machinery” of cells. "We have discovered new RNA aspects of the shelter mechanism and we want to gain a greater understanding of how it works at molecular level." The research project has been granted DKK 3,166,717.

Independent Research Fund Denmark Research Project1, also known as FP1, supports independent, investigator-initiated research across all scientific disciplines. The purpose of FP1 is to promote the quality of Danish research. All the applications have been assessed by one of the foundation's five advisory boards, and the 24 selected projects are characterised by a high academic level of international quality.

See the full list of research projects below the article.

See the list of research projects here:

Title

Grant recipient

Grant amount

Molecular mechanism behind import of the plant-hormone auxin

Bjørn Panyella Pedersen

                                    3.167.738,00    

Probing electron dynamics in matter by attosecond electron pulses

Lars Bojer Madsen

                                     3.167.296,00    

Revealing the Effect of Abrasion on the Fate of Chiral Biosignature Molecules

Kai Waldemar Finster

                                     3.167.722,00    

The role of RNA modifications in subcellular RNA localization

Ulf Andersson Vang Ørom

                                     3.166.717,00    

The Molecular Basis of Synaptic Diversity in Calcium Handling

Chao Sun

                                     3.167.175,00    

Structural roles of circRNAs in stress granule homeostasis

Christian Kroun Damgaard

                                     3.167.057,00    

Pliocene and Early Pleistocene: analogue for future warm conditions in the Arctic (PlioArc)

Marit-Solveig L.S. Seidenkrantz

                                     3.167.544,00    

New Frontiers in Condensed Mathematics

Gregory Steuart Douglas Stevenson

                                     2.988.465,00    

DNA-encoded activation of enzymes

Alexander Zelikin

                                     3.167.057,00    

The Genetic Paradox of Invasive Species Investigated in Invasive Freshwater Mussels

Michael Møller Hansen

                                     3.152.571,00    

The southern Caucasus – a hotspot for early human evolution and dispersal?

Mads Andreas Faurschou Knudsen

                                     3.163.297,00    

Decay studies at the edge of existence for proton-rich nuclei

Hans Otto Uldall Fynbo

                                     3.166.786,00    

Parabolic Anderson models on fractals

Fabrice Baudoin

                                     3.091.015,00    

Attosecond carrier dynamics: Shedding new light on the 120 years old Drude model

Peter Balling

                                     3.168.000,00    

Illuminating the Cellular N-terminal Cysteinome Through Novel Chemical Reactivity

Thomas Bjørnskov Poulsen

                                     3.162.491,00    

GreenTrace: Trace Fossils as quantitative proxies in Quaternary paleoceanography around Greenland

Christof Pearce

                                     3.162.156,00    

From the ocean to the continent: A leap forward in our understanding of the Jenkyns Event (Toarcian, Early Jurassic)

Stephane Bodin

                                     3.167.954,00    

Complexity and Optimization in Competitive Markets

Kristoffer Arnsfelt Hansen

                                     3.111.602,00    

Field energetics of ocean giants

Peter Teglberg Madsen

                                     3.167.178,00    

Unlocking new chemical space for drug discovery: Specialized Metabolism triggered under oxygen-limited conditions

Thomas Tørring

                                     3.143.231,00    

Climate and biodiversity finance

Jonas Nygaard Eriksen

                                     3.161.537,00    

Distributional Consequences of the EU Energy Transition

Timo Trimborn

                                     2.750.098,00    

The Microfoundations of Authoritarian Repression

Jakob Tolstrup

                                     3.165.388,00    

Robustness in Nonparametric Hypothesis Tests

Luke Nicholas Taylor

                                     3.038.901,00    

Drug Trafficking Careers. A Qualitative Study of Trajectories in Serious Drug Crime

Thomas Friis Søgaard

                                     3.066.630,00    

Chairing the Council of the European Union (EUCHAIR)

Jens Andreas Blom-Hansen

                                     3.143.676,00    

The fight for the climate: Climate activism and radicalism

Oluf Gøtzsche-Astrup

                                     3.023.093,00    

The lateral intercellular space is essential for isosmotic transport across epithelia

Jeppe Prætorius

                                     3.106.800,00    

Development of Immunoprophylaxis for Epstein-Barr Virus-induced post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder

Martin Tolstrup

                                     3.061.039,00    

Controlling transposable elements in embryonic stem cells

Torben Heick Jensen

                                     3.167.698,00    

Unlocking the Fountain of Youth: Spermidine Supplementation and Stem Cell Function in Aging Skeletal Muscle

Jean Gammelgaard Farup

                                     3.162.145,00    

In vivo prime editing of inherited gene variants in stem cells for treatment of hematopoietic dysfunction

Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen

                                     3.123.072,00    

Staphylococci as skin guardians: harnessing and improving their beneficial properties for acne treatment

Holger Brüggemann

                                     2.971.440,00    

The role of anti-Topoisomerase-1 autoantibodies in scleroderma

Bent Winding Deleuran

                                     3.154.506,00    

Shared care to prevent infections and fractures in patients with liver cirrhosis

Peter Jepsen

                                     3.157.193,00    

Exploring the double edge sword of prostate cancer iron dependency

Martin Kristian Thomsen

                                     3.019.392,00    

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and risk of cardiovascular disease severity and prognosis (LIVER-HEART)

Henning Grønbæk

                                     2.902.115,00    

Abrogation of insulin resistance by ketone body infusion in obese subjects: unraveling the paradox

Jens Otto Lunde Jørgensen

                                     3.001.968,00    

Receptor Mediated Trafficking in Brain Endothelial cells

Morten Schallburg Nielsen

                                     3.168.000,00    

Interplay of dietary potassium intake in cardiovascular and bone health

Robert Andrew Fenton

                                     3.168.000,00    

Digital OCD treatment for youth – DOT-Y

Judith Birthe P Becker Nissen

                                     2.937.070,00    

Deciphering Key Signatures and Drug Targets of Glioblastoma Pacemaker Cells in Humans

Anders Rosendal Korshøj

                                     3.160.800,00    

Targeting microglia-mediated phagocytosis in neurodegenerative diseases via the SIRP⍺-CD47 pathway

Holger Jon Møller

                                     2.813.040,00    

Quick screening of fluorescent molecules in complex mixtures: A novel combination of HPLC and fluorescence mass spectrometry to improve enzymes for plastic degradation

Steen Brøndsted Nielsen

                                     3.166.815,00    

Attosecond pulses of quantum light for quantum technology

Lars Bojer Madsen

                                     3.167.747,00    

A novel grouped anchor concept for floating offshore wind turbines

Lars Vabbersgaard Andersen

                                     3.167.070,00    

RootVision: Illuminating root diversity under crop mixtures

Eusun Han

                                     3.157.344,00    

Leveraging massive alkaline solid wastes: Biocement by carbonic anhydrase mediated CO2 mineralization

Min Wu

                                     3.167.990,00    

A novel ML-enhanced scratch-based material characterization technique (SCRACH)

Ramin Aghababaei

                                     3.166.489,00    

Innovative Green Solutions: Sludge-Derived Fertilizers Free from PFAS and Antibiotics (FERTIPAS)

Pedro Neves de Carvalho

                                     3.167.194,00    

Zooming in on ionizing radiation: From nanodosimetry to new radiotherapy approaches

Peter Balling

                                     3.168.000,00    

Multimodal Asymmetries in Collaborative Hybrid Spaces

Eve Hoggan Christensen

                                     3.167.888,00