Super-krop!
Grantee: Experimentarium Science Center, Kim Gladstone Herlev, CEO of Experimentarium
Amount: DKK 9,000,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The science center Experimentarium in Copenhagen will open a major exhibition about the human body in 2026. The exhibition is called Super-krop!, which means Super body, and aims to illustrate the interaction between the body and behavior, targeting a younger audience.
Super-krop! is supported by the LEO Foundation alongside the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Lundbeck Foundation, and Ole Kirk’s Foundation with a total of DKK 30 million.
Hand Eczema in the Fishing Industry in Greenland
Grantee: Kristina Ibler, Bispebjerg Hospital, Dronning Ingrid’s Health Center, the Greenland Fishing Industry, Greenland University, and University of Copenhagen
Amount: DKK 3,437,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The overall vision with this research project is to improve skin health and the quality of prevention and treatment of skin diseases in Greenland and the Arctic societies in general. Around 25% of all inquiries to the health care system in Greenland relate to skin diseases. Arctic indigenous peoples have their own genetic variation and have for centuries adapted to their unique geographical environments and culture. Consequently, medical treatment regimens from other countries most often cannot be directly transferred and used in the Greenlandic health care setting. New knowledge, competences and technologies are warranted for utilization across both prevention, translational and clinical research, and practice.
20% of the Greenlandic population is employed in the fishing industry which stands for 90% of Greenland’s export, making it a critical element in a sustainable community. It is expected that around 30-50% of the employees suffer from hand eczema, often with complicating secondary bacterial infection. As such, contact dermatitis has a significant negative impact on both quality of life and productivity in Greenland. The research project aims to provide some of the missing research data on skin diseases in Greenland. It will investigate the prevalence of contact dermatitis, risk factors, biomarkers, and genetic factors associated with contact dermatitis in the seafood-processing fishing industry, as well as explore the presence of bacterial strains and how they relate to dermatitis.
The LEO Foundation 40th Anniversary Prize
Grantee: Gregor Jemec, Professor of Dermatology and Head of Research at Zealand University Hospital
Amount: DKK 5,000,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Gregor Jemec is Professor of Dermatology and Head of Research at Zealand University Hospital.
He receives the LEO Foundation 40th Anniversary Prize for his extraordinary contribution to skin research – especially for his pioneering and persistent work with the chronic skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).
Gregor Jemec has been researching the skin and its diseases for the past 30 years and is one of Denmark’s most cited skin researchers. He is the author of over 800 publications and one of the world’s leading experts on HS, a skin condition that causes painful boils. Research estimates that one to four percent of the world’s population suffers from HS.
Center for Pharmaceutical Data Science Education
Grantee: The University of Copenhagen and the University of Southern Denmark
Amount: DKK 30,000,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Center for Pharmaceutical Data Science Education is funded by the LEO Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Lundbeck Foundation with a total of DKK 123 million over a six-year period.
The new center merges two fields of study – the pharmaceutical sciences and data science – and will ensure the students’ qualifications in data science by upgrading relevant compulsory bachelor’s and master’s courses. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and the use of big data open a huge area of knowledge, new data sources and methods, which should be integrated in the best possible way in the pharmaceutical sciences education.
4th annual International Conference on the Science of Science and Innovation (ICSSI)
Grantee: Dashun Wang, Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Amount: DKK 500,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2024
Geography: USA
This interdisciplinary event will convene leading experts in the field of science of science and innovation, aiming to provide a multi-channel platform that brings together both producers (scientists from industry and academia) and consumers (policymakers, publishers, funders, administrators, etc.) of the field.
Global Atopic Dermatitis Atlas (GADA)
Grantee: Carsten Flohr, King's College London
Amount: DKK 10,000,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2023
Geography: United Kingdom
Atopic dermatitis, also called atopic eczema, or just eczema, is a non-contagious, chronic skin disease, causing dry, patchy, and itchy skin. It affects up to 20% of children and up to 10% of adults. Of all skin diseases worldwide, it is the most common type, with a burden that remains a significant challenge for the people affected, their families, and societies.
Despite progress made in treating severe forms of atopic dermatitis, there is a need for high-quality information showing how many people per country have atopic dermatitis and how severe it is. With strong data, atopic dermatitis can be better understood and treated.
With a grant from the LEO Foundation, the Global Atopic Dermatitis Atlas, or GADA, will help address gaps in current data by creating and maintaining a living online atlas, where the newest research-based knowledge and data on atopic dermatitis, its prevalence, severity, and treatment are available in one place – collected and analyzed in the same way for all countries.
About GADA
The Global Atopic Dermatitis Atlas (GADA) is a worldwide, long-term project. GADA is led by Professor Carsten Flohr (St John’s Institute of Dermatology, King’s College London, UK) and is an initiative established by the International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS) in 2022 in collaboration with supporting stakeholders:
Confocal laser scanning microscope
Grantee: Thomas Bjarnsholt, University of Copenhagen
Amount: DKK 5,894,893
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2023
Geography: Denmark
The Costerton Biofilm Center (CBC) at Department of Immunology and Microbiology (ISIM), University of Copenhagen, is a world-leading interdisciplinary research center dedicated to exploring chronic infections caused by bacteria, including skin infections. The center runs two infrastructure facilities which are open to external users from basic, clinical, and industrial research.
There is an urgent need in the center’s Biofilm Test Facility to replace an outdated confocal laser scanning microscope which can no longer be serviced. The grant from the LEO Foundation therefore hopes to provide this upgrade, the microscope a critical tool in the CBC’s pioneering work on understanding how the ability of bacteria to form biofilm is key to addressing antimicrobial resistance and developing novel antibacterial treatments.
Global Psoriasis Atlas Phase III (2023-2026)
Grantee: Professor Chris Griffiths, University of Manchester
Amount: DKK 11,160,157
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2023
Geography: United Kingdom
Psoriasis is a life-long and currently incurable immune-mediated skin disease affecting more than 60 million people worldwide. In addition to its cutaneous, stigmatizing manifestations, the disease is associated with other major medical conditions including depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis and cancer and can be construed as life-ruining. As such it represents a significant public health challenge. Despite remarkable advances in treatment options in some parts of the world, psoriasis continues to affect the quality of life of patients and impact health economics negatively.
GPA Phase III (2023-2026)
The GPA Phase III is focused on continued improvement of the understanding of the epidemiology of psoriasis and its incidence and prevalence at the global level. This third phase aims to build upon the previous achievements of the GPA Phase II. Here ambitions include:
- An extensive update to the GPA’s large international dataset to create and launch edition 3 of the GPA.
- To strengthen collaboration with the dermatology work stream of the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD).
- To conduct new epidemiological studies to enhance the GPA.
- To conduct new studies to improve knowledge about the comorbid disease burden of psoriasis.
Background
With a mission to ‘ensure that people with psoriasis, wherever they live in the world, have access to the best available care’, Professor Griffiths and the University of Manchester initiated the development of a Global Psoriasis Atlas in 2016. The GPA is a long-term iterative project, which was initiated in close collaboration with the WHO and international dermatology and psoriasis organisations.
The LEO Foundation has been main funder of the development of the 1st edition of the GPA through a 3-year grant of DKK 6,370,000 from 2017 – 2020. The GPA project has in its first period (GPA Phase I) focused on research into the global prevalence and incidence of psoriasis – with the 1st edition of the GPA website launched on World Psoriasis Day 29 October 2019.
The LEO Foundation was also the main sponsor of GPA phase II, with a three-year grant of DKK 8,000,000 from 2020-2022. In this phase, the atlas-initiative has had a special focus on increasing its global outreach, including studies of psoriasis in Latin America, Malaysia, and Taiwan as well as on increasing and validating data on the association of psoriasis and cancer. Another important element of Phase II was to design and test a clinical diagnostic tool for health-care professionals globally, taking into account the different expressions of the disease, depending on skin colour.
New equipment for Flow Cytometry and Single Cell Sequencing
Grantee: University of Copenhagen
Amount: DKK 10,755,847
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2022
Geography: Denmark
The Institute for Immunology and Microbiology is the host of the LEO Foundation’s major strategic initiative, the LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Center (SIC). ISIM has been established with flow cytometry and single cell sequencing as main areas of expertise and serves as a platform for integrative cell analysis.
ISIM provides local and external research groups and biotech companies with access to highly specialized equipment for analysis using flow cytometry and state-of-the-art single cell sequencing, as well as highly specialized staff who are experts at analyzing samples in complex projects.
In support of ISIM the LEO Foundation provides new equipment to the organization to upgrade technological options for cell and single cell analysis, to make it possible to implement new methods using new and existing equipment together, and to help ensure that the core facility can support experiments in the entirety of their pipeline – from initial idea formation to full-scale experiments.
The SIC Springtime School 2023-2028
Grantee: University of Copenhagen
Amount: DKK 4,300,000
Grant category: Standalone grants
Year: 2022
Geography: Denmark
SIC Springtime School is hosted annually by the LEO Foundation Skim Immunology Research Center (SIC) and has shown to be a great success over the two previous years. The international school is held at Hornbækhus on the North Coast of Zealand and forms part of SIC’s educational and career development activities – in 2022 representing 86 speakers, international students, and postdoc participants.
The SIC Springtime School offers participants the opportunity to interact with leading scientists, providing for rich and positive learning experiences.
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