Explore our grantees and awardees

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2025

Geography: Denmark

The children’s book ’50 NYE vilde videnskabelige forsøg’ (Eng.: 50 NEW Wild Scientific Experiments) is a follow-up to the book ‘Manden der fik skåret sin hjerne i skiver og 49 andre vilde videnskabelige forsøg’. This publication will present exciting scientific discoveries and experiments, aiming to increase curiosity about science among the target group of 9-14-years-olds. The book will be published by Gads Forlag and will be accompanied by a related podcast series featuring some of the stories and content from its pages.

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Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2025

Geography: Denmark

Danmarks Naturfagslærerforening (Eng.: The Danish Association of Science Teachers) is publishing an anthology on didactic models and methods facilitating an experimental and investigative approach to natural science teaching in Danish schools – with a main focus on motivating students and offering solutions suited for direct implementation in the everyday teaching effort. The book called ‘Naturvidenskabelige undersøgelser – didaktik, elevmotivation og hverdagsrealisme’ (Eng.: Scientific Studies – Didactic, Student Motivation and Everyday Realism) will be distributed by the teachers’ association to its members and will be available for ordering or downloading for others, for free.

Grant category: LEO Foundation Visiting Researchers

Year: 2025

Geography: Spain

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally abundant molecule in the human body, with approximately half of its total amount found in the skin, where it plays a critical role in maintaining hydration and viscoelasticity. Cutibacterium acnes, a common skin bacterium predominantly found on the upper body, is generally beneficial to the skin. However, certain strains of C. acnes are capable of inducing inflammation and are linked to acne vulgaris. These strains exhibit HA-degrading activity via the enzyme hylA, which leads to the production of proinflammatory HA fragments.

The proposal hypothesizes that reprogramming C. acnes from a HA-degrading bacterium to a HA-synthesizing one could not only reduce its virulence but also enhance its skin-beneficial functions. To test this, the applicant and the collaborators at AU will create a hylA knock-out strain of C. acnes, replacing the hylA gene with a highly active HA synthase, that has been successfully utilized as a recombinant enzyme for HA synthesis in mice.

The repurposed C. acnes strain will be evaluated in vitro for its (anti-)inflammatory effects on skin cells and in vivo on mouse skin for its engraftment potential and its impact on skin barrier function.

The outcomes of this project may form the basis for exploring the potential of engineered probiotic strains with enhanced host-beneficial properties, ultimately contributing to improved health span.

Grant category: Standalone grants

Year: 2025

Geography: Denmark

Through this grant the LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Research Center is expanding its scientific and technological capabilities by incorporating three new areas of expertise:

• Spatial transcriptomics (in collaboration with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR))
• Establishment of an animal facility for “wildlings”  – a special type of laboratory mice that contain a – controlled – level of microorganisms which make them more akin to real-world animals and provides a more natural model, in particular for interactions with and responses from the immune system.
• Establishment of advanced 3D skin models for experiments building on genetic manipulation of specific cell types from the skin.

Each area is carefully selected to strengthen the center’s focus on performing frontier research within barrier immunology.