Annual Report from the Board and Management 2009
In 2009, the Novo Nordisk Foundation granted DKK 191 million and paid out DKK 237 million in funding for project activities. The grants were distributed as follows:
- DKK 101 million was awarded on recommendation from the Foundation's committees in the form of actual project grants, scholarships and honorary awards
- DKK 20 million went to the Danish National Biobank at the Danish State Serum Institute
- DKK 31.8 million went to the Steno Diabetes Center, of which DKK 28.3 was in the form of grants for development work in the area of hospital operations and DKK 3.5 million went to the new Steno Health Promotion Centre
- DKK 10.3 million went to the Foundation's education project under the Steno Diabetes Center to improve diabetes treatment in China and India
- DKK 5 million went to the Pre-seed programme
- DKK 5.7 million went to the Addition project
- DKK 15 million went to the 'From symptom to treatment' cancer research project
- DKK 2 million went to Humanitarian and social causes
It is the ambition of the Novo Nordisk Foundation to make a significant contribution to research, both nationally and internationally. The Foundation, therefore, takes the initiative to conduct and support research of high quality aimed at improving the health and welfare of people.
The Foundation's support strategy reflects its desire to contribute to the creation of world-class research and development results so that Denmark and the other Nordic countries can develop and gain recognition as a high-quality, international knowledge and power centre within the health sciences and biotechnology.
The Foundation's grant areas:
- Health science research (biomedical basic research, translational research, clinical research and public health science research)
- Natural science research related to life science
- Art history research
The foundation primarily supports Danish research projects, as well as endocrinology research in all the Nordic countries.
There are three types of grants:
1. Grants awarded on the recommendation of permanent committees
The aim is to support individual projects within the area of the committee in question. The grants are awarded annually on the basis of calls for applications and the submission of applications. Support is available to cover operating expenses for specific projects, scholarships and symposia. A list of committee members can be found on page 51, and a list of the grants of the year can be found on page 49.
2. One-off grants
The aim is to provide increased funding to a single, limited area. The grants are awarded in the form of funding for the establishment or possible continuation of a small research centre, major research programme, research school or professorship.
3. Major strategic investments
The aim is to develop a large research area over several years - for example through the establishment of a centre or a technological platform.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation's grants are thus awarded as project grants, scholarships, symposia grants, honorary awards and centre grants. In 2009, the Novo Nordisk Foundation received a total of 969 applications, of which 244 received grants for specific projects on the basis of expert assessment and prioritisation.
1. Grants on the recommendation of permanent committees
HEALTH SCIENCES RESEARCH IN DENMARK
Research projects
Committee on Medical and Natural Science Research
The Committee awards annual project funding upon application for medical and scientific research in Denmark. In 2009, 403 applications were received for a total amount of DKK 293.8 million. A total of DKK 28.5 million was available in 2009. In addition, there was DKK 5 million from the VP Scholarship, as cooperation with the Fabrikant Vilhelm Pedersens og Hustrus Mindelegat (scholarship) has continued. Thus, the Foundation could, after expert assessment, forward a number of applications to the Scholarship. This meant that in 2009, the Committee could award a total of DKK 33.5 million, distributed among 91 grants, of which 10 came under the VP Scholarship.
Committee on Nursing Research
In 2009, the Committee received 53 applications for project grants. There were applications for a total of DKK 28.9 million, with DKK 1.5 million available for distribution. Grants were awarded to nine applicants.
Grants and scholarships
Within Danish health sciences, ten research scholarships with a duration of two to five years were awarded in 2009 at PhD, postdoctoral and professorial levels.
Honorary awards
The Novo Nordisk Prize
The prize is for DKK 1.5 million and was awarded on 2 May 2009 to Professor Søren Nielsen, DMSc, President and CEO of the biotech company Action Pharma A/S and professor of cell biology and pathophysiology at the Water and Salt Centre, Department of Anatomy at Aarhus University, Denmark, in recognition of his ground-breaking and internationally highly recognised research in the occurrence and function of cell membrane water channels, with focus on water balance regulation by the kidneys. In continuation of this, a two-day international symposium was held at Rosenholm Castle in September 2009 (see pages 30-31).
In 2010, the prize recipient is Professor of Biochemistry Henrik Clausen, DDS, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, for his ground-breaking studies of carbohydrates on cell surfaces, their structure, genetics, formation and function, as well as their importance for disease and treatment (see pages 24-29). The prize will be conferred on 8 May 2010, and this autumn, an international symposium dedicated to the prize winner's field of research will be held.
Marie and August Krogh Prize
The Marie and August Krogh Prize was established by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Medical Society in 1969. It was called the August Krogh Prize until 2009 when its name was changed to the Marie and August Krogh Prize. The prize of DKK 250,000 is distributed as a personal award of DKK 100,000 and an award for research of DKK 150,000 and is conferred at the Danish Medical Society's annual conference.
In 2009, the prize was conferred to Professor Bent Smedegaard Ottesen, DMSc, Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, for his unique research in gynaecology and obstetrics in Denmark. In 2010, the prize recipient is Professor Erling Falk, DMSc, Aarhus University Hospital - Skejby, for his extraordinary research within ischaemic heart disease. At the annual conference on 29 January 2010, Professor Erling Falk gave a lecture entitled 'Fra plaqueruptur over vulnerable plaques til vulnerable personer' (From plaque rupture through vulnerable plaques to vulnerable people).
The Hagedorn Prize
The Danish Society for Internal Medicine (DSIM) has awarded the Hagedorn Prize since 1966 on the basis of a donation by Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium. In recent years, the return has not been sufficient for a worthy prize, so DSIM has, with the permission of the authorities, transferred the capital to the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which will continue to award the prize with the DSIM Board as an independent assessment committee. The prize amount has been raised to DKK 250,000 and is still awarded in recognition of excellent research or development efforts within the field of Danish internal medicine. At DSIM's annual meeting in 2009, the prize was conferred on Professor Sten Madsbad, DMSc and chief physician, for his research in the field of endocrinology. In 2010, the prize recipient is Professor Torsten Toftegård Nielsen, DMSc and chief physician, for his work within cardiology research. The lecture was entitled, 'Tuning af hjertets motorer - mitokondrierne fremtidens behandlingstilbud eller en utopi?' (Tuning the heart's motors - mitochondria as the future of treatment or a utopia?)
ENDOCRINOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE NORDIC REGION
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has supported endocrinology research in the Nordic countries since its establishment. In recent years, these efforts have been expanded considerably through increased project grants as well as funding of a number of PhD, postdoctoral and travel grants.
Project grants
Nordic Research Committee
The Committee awards project funding upon application for basic scientific and clinical research in the area of endocrinology in the Nordic countries. In 2009, the Foundation received 235 applications for a total of DKK 223 million. At the Committee meeting on 21 August 2009, all applications were assessed, and a total of DKK 24.7 million was awarded via 85 grants.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Excellence Project
This grant of DKK 5 million over a period of five years, with DKK 1 million annually, received 44 applications in 2009 and was awarded to Clinical Associate Professor Kurt Højlund, PhD and chief physician, University of Southern Denmark, for the project 'Phosphoproteomic Characterization of Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Insulin Resistance in Type 2 Diabetes - From Molecule to Diabetes Treatment in Man' (see page 31). In 2010, two excellence projects will each be granted DKK 5 million - one within clinical and/or translational endocrinology research and one within basic endocrinology research.
Research training
Since 2006, and annual research course has been held at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, under the responsibility of Professor Ulf Smith, DMSc. In 2009, the fourth research course was held for the Network in Endocrinology and Diabetes.
As part of the PhD School of Molecular Metabolism & Endocrinology (formerly PhD School of Metabolism) at the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Copenhagen, 20 scholarships were partly funded in 2008 and 2009.
Honorary awards
The H.C. Jacobæus' Lectures Foundation
This independent foundation is being discontinued because the return on its capital is no longer sufficient for a worthy prize. However, the spending of the capital will provide an opportunity for additional activity. Once the capital has been spent, the Novo Nordisk Foundation will continue to fund a Jacobæus Prize and Lecture.
In 2009, the honour as the year's lecturer and the prize of DKK 100,000 were conferred on Professor Michael P. Czech from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA. The lecture was entitled, 'RNAi-Based Therapeutic Strategies for Inflammation and Metabolic Disease'. The award ceremony and the lecture took place at the Novel Aspects on Adipose Tissue Biology symposium in Umeå, Sweden in October 2009.
On 1 February 2010, another Jacobæus Symposium was held in Odense at the University of Southern Denmark entitled 'Estrogen and Skeleton - Past, Present and Future', where Professor Sundeep Khosla, from the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, USA, was invited as keynote speaker with his lecture 'Estrogen and Skeleton: Sixty Years of Research - what have we learnt?'
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Lecture
The 2009 award went to Professor John Wahren, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Instituttet, Stockholm, Sweden. John Wahren gave his lecture at the annual meeting of the Scandinavian Society for the Study of Diabetes (SSSD) in Bergen, Norway. The lecture was entitled 'C-Peptide and the Treatment of Microvascular Complications of Type 1 Diabetes'.
On the same occasion, the 2008 prize winner, Professor Leif Jansson, Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala Universitet, also gave his lecture, entitled 'Pancreatic Islet Vasculature in Health and Disease', because Leif Jansson was unfortunately unable to attend the 2008 annual meeting in Tampere, Finland, and therefore gave his lecture at the 2009 annual meeting. Ivar Walaas from the Nordic Research Committee introduced both speakers and conferred the prizes of DKK 50,000, each.
Symposia
The Nordic Research Committee is also responsible for awarding grants for the hosting of various symposia in the Nordic countries - Novo Nordisk Foundation Research Meetings - which must have themes within the areas of endocrinology or experimental physiology. At the annual meeting of the Nordic Research Committee in August 2009, three symposiums were selected from among 11 applications, totalling DKK 2.2 million. The winning symposiums were each granted DKK 450,000.
ART HISTORY RESEARCH
Project grants
The Committee on Art History Research
The Committee supports projects in the field of art history as well as projects that can contribute to improving research in art history. The Committee received 35 applications at the grant meeting on 11 March 2009, totalling DKK 4.2 million. In all, 17 projects were granted funding, totalling DKK 1 million.
Classical archaeology research
The project 'Religious identity, ritual practice and sacred architecture in the Hellenistic and Roman Near East' is headed by Research Associate Professor Rubina Raja, Aarhus University. The project focuses on how religious identity is visually manifested and develops over time. As part of the project, Rubina Raja has been commissioned to organise a series of international conferences.
The Foundation has provided an extraordinary grant of DKK 190,000 to fund a symposium for 60 participants, entitled 'Continuity and Change: Religious Identities in the Levant from Alexander to Muhammad', to take place at the Danish Institute in Damascus in March 2010. As part of the project's dissemination activities, a special exhibition will open in 2010 entitled 'Det hellige rum - trioen rammer' at the Museum of Ancient Art, Aarhus University.
2. One-off grants
The Nordic Research Consortium
From 1999 to 2009, the Foundation has supported a Nordic research consortium centred around Professor Karl Tryggvason from the Karolinska Institut in Stockholm, with a total of DKK 100 million. The Consortium conducted research in the serious complications that often accompany long-term diabetes.
The Foundation has received the final report and finds that the research teams have published many important international research findings. These have disseminated a large amount of new basic science knowledge about pathological development of blood vessels - in diabetes as the cause of renal, cardiovascular and eye problems and in cancer as an aspect of tumour growth. The grant also established a close collaboration between the involved research groups and the centre in Stockholm, as well as supporting a network of junior and senior researchers in the groups.
The Addition project
Since 2000, a major project in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK has studied the value of early identification and treatment of Type 2 diabetes in general practice, called the Anglo-Danish-Dutch study of intensive treatment in people with screen-detected diabetes in primary care. In 2009, the project reached the post-study phase, where the results are gathered. This phase of the project has received a grant of DKK 5.7 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation together with a grant of DKK 10 million from the Danish Council for Strategy Research in order to complete the project.
Cancer project: From symptom to treatment
In 2009, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Cancer Society granted DKK 15 million to the research project 'Fra symptom til behandling - optimeret udredning af kræftsygdom' (From symptom to treatment - optimised diagnosis of cancer) headed by Adjunct Professor Peter Vedsted, MD, PhD. The total grant of DKK 30 million supports the establishment of a new Danish research centre for cancer diagnostics in practice 'CaP' at the Research Unit for General Practice in Aarhus, Aarhus University. The centre officially opened in January 2010 at Aarhus University (see page 32).
Medical Museion
In the period 2004-2009, the Novo Nordisk Foundation has supported research, material collection, registration and dissemination activities at the Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, focusing on the history of the health sciences. The funding supported the project 'Biomedicine on Display 1955-2005', as well as three exhibitions: Design4Science and Del og Hel (Share and Heal) at the Medical Museion, and Primary Substances: Treasures from the History of Protein Research, at the University's Panum Institute. With grants totalling DKK 14.2 million, the Foundation has boosted the museum in terms of research and helped remedy the absence of biomedicine in medical history museums by allowing the Medical Museion to increase its collections of objects and narratives from the rapid growth in the health sciences of the past 50 years - developments in which the Novo Group has played a significant role. The Foundation considers this development within the area of medical history at the University of Copenhagen, where the past and present are linked to future developments, to be an important way to communicate about biomedicine to both laymen and scientists.
Process biotechnology
From 2004 to 2009, the Foundation supported a professorship in process biotechnology at the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark. The position was first held by Professor John Villadsen, Dr.techn., and from 2006 by Professor Anne Meyer. The grant stipulates that at the end of the grant period, the position must be incorporated as part of DTU's permanent staff.
3. Major strategic investments
The Danish National Biobank
The Foundation, along with the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, is supporting the establishment of the Danish National Biobank at the Danish State Serum Institute with a total of DKK 121 million over ten years. The Foundation's contribution is DKK 85 million. The design and establishment of this platform is well underway, and the final building plans are in place. Professor Christian Hveem, from Norway, took office as head of the establishment of the Danish National Biobank on 4 January 2010. During 2010, a new two-storey building to house the Biobank should be completed.
NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION CENTER FOR PROTEIN RESEARCH
Since the Foundation's grant in 2007 of DKK 600 million for the establishment and operation of a new centre at the University of Copenhagen, intense planning and refurbishing of three stories in two buildings at the Panum Institute has taken place. The Center for Protein Research was officially opened on 4 June 2009 with a symposium, and the inauguration was carried out by Danish Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Helge Sander and Foundation Chairman Ulf J. Johansson (see page 36). In celebration of the opening of the Center for Protein Research, the Medical Museion organised the exhibition Primary Substances: Treasures from the History of Protein Research. The popular exhibition, which received funding from the Foundation, opened on 4 September 2009 in Vandrehallen at the Panum Institute.
THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION PRE-SEED PROGRAMME
Since 2007, the Foundation has supported Scandinavian biotech research projects with a commercial potential through the Novo Seeds pre-seed programme (in collaboration with Novo A/S). The grants are awarded according to the same conditions as the Foundation's other project grants. The pre-seed programme also offers grants for management and strategy development on the selected projects. In 2009, Pcovery received DKK 1.65 million and Orphazyme DKK 1.9 million.
STENO DIABETES CENTER
The Steno Diabetes Center (SDC) continues to be a hospital for treatment, prevention, research and education within diabetes. As a new initiative, SDC was established in 2009 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novo Nordisk A/S with its own Board of Directors. SDC has entered into an operations agreement with regard to patient treatment with Capital Region Denmark and, according to this agreement, acts as the regional diabetes unit, treating approx. 5,500 patients with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
Treatment is almost entirely on an outpatient basis. In addition, SDC has a five-day daytime bed ward with 14 beds. The treatment offered to patients is extended compared to basic treatment to include an ophthalmology clinic, a chiropodist's clinic, clinical dieticians and clinical physiology. Patient treatment is also handled at the Diabetes Unit at Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet.
In accordance with its statutes, the Foundation granted SDC DKK 31.8 million in 2009, of which DKK 28.3 million went to hospital operations and DKK 3.8 million to a new lifestyle centre, the Steno Health Promotion Center, headed by Bjarne Bruun Jensen, who is tasked with finding new approaches to the treatment and prevention of diabetes.
THE STAR PROJECT
The education unit, Steno Education Center, propagates knowledge about the treatment of diabetic patients, including training of diabetes teams and development of quality programmes in middle and low-income countries. Among other things, the education unit implements the STAR project.
Through an annual grant, the Foundation supports the training of healthcare professionals in China and India by updating research-based knowledge as well as through training in the newest therapies. In 2009, the STAR project held eight courses which were supported by the Foundation.
As of 2010, the focus of the STAR project will be less on China and India and more on Africa and the Middle East. The Foundation supports the STAR project with DKK 10.3 million in 2010.
SUPPORT FOR OTHER CAUSES
In 2009 a total of DKK 2 million was donated to the following humanitarian and social organisations: Danish Red Cross, CARE Denmark, Danish Refugee Council, Danner - Crisis Centre and Shelter for Women, Save the Children Denmark, Médecins Sans Frontières, Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT) and the preliminary project of Soldaterlegatet (The Soldiers' Grant): Danske Hjemvendte Soldater (Returning Danish Soldiers). The SISU Basketball Club also received support for a summer camp for children in the Sandholm, Kongelunden and Avnstrup Red Cross asylum centres.
NAMES
The members of the Foundation's committees are appointed for limited periods, so there is a regular flow of incoming and outgoing members. In 2009, the following changes were made:
Committee on Medical and Natural Science Research (LNK)
Professor Susanne Mandrup, PhD, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense is a member as of 1 May 2009.
Professor Lars Fugger, DMSc, University of Oxford, has stepped down from the Committee on Medical and Natural Science Research as of the end of 2009. He was succeeded by Professor Erik Ilsø Christensen, DMSC, Department of Anatomy, Aarhus University, as of 1 January 2010.
Novo Nordisk Prize Committee
On 30 June 2009 Professor Gunna Christiansen, DMSc, and Professor Jens Juul Holst, DMSc, stepped down as members of the committee. They were succeeded by Professor Ebba Nexø, chief physician, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aarhus University Hospital, and Professor Thue Schwartz, DMSc, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen. Professor Birgitte Nauntofte, DDS, succeeded Gert Almind, DMSc, as Foundation Director in August 2009.
Nordic Research Committee (NFK)
Professor Birgitte Nauntofte, DDS, University of Copenhagen stepped down as a committee member at the end of May 2009. She was succeeded by Professor Mette Marie Rosenkilde, PhD, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, on 1 June 2009.
Professor Frode Vartdal, DMSc, Rikshospitalet University Hospital and the University of Oslo, stepped down as a committee member at the end of 2009. He was succeeded by Professor Trine Bjøro, DMSc, Department of Medical Biochemistry at Rikshospitalet University Hospital and the University of Oslo on 1 January 2010.
On the Committee on Nursing Research, Ingrid Egerod, MScN, stepped down as a member at the end of 2008. She was succeeded by Head of Research Bente Appel Esbensen, Research Unit, Hillerød Hospital. Gert Almind also retired as of September 2009. The new chairperson as of 1 October 2009 is Professor Lis Adamsen, nurse and head of the University Hospital Centre for Nursing and Care Research (UCSF), Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet.
On the Committee for General Medical Research, Gert Almind has retired as of the end of September 2009. Professor Niels Bentzen, GP, Research Unit of General Practice, University of Southern Denmark, took office as committee chairman on 1 January 2010.
On the Committee on Art History Research, Gert Almind retired on 1 August 2009, and is succeeded by Professor Birgitte Nauntofte, DDS.
The Foundation would like to thank the many committee members for their valuable efforts.
Professor Birgitte Nauntofte, DDS, took office as Foundation Director on 3 August 2009. Birgitte Nauntofte succeeds Former Director Gert Almind, DMSc.
The Foundation staff has been augmented by Scientific Officer Dagnia Looms, PhD, MSc, and Executive Assistant Pernille Julø Risegaard.
Gert Almind continues to be affiliated with the Foundation, and will in 2010 be writing a history of the Foundation from 1926 until today.
1 March 2010
Ulf J. Johansson, Chairman
Birgitte Nauntofte, Director