Explore our grantees and awardees

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

CPH:DOX’s UNG:DOX program currently covers the greater Copenhagen area with a natural science educational focus during the two-week annual documentary film festival in March. Plans are underway to expand UNG:DOX to cover youth educations all over Denmark, providing year-round access. UNG:DOX offers upper secondary level students science documentaries from its international program, through streaming or live events, accompanied by expert lectures, scientist interviews, and additional resources for teachers.

Visit UNG:DOX’s webpage

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

This project continues the established ‘Naturfagsmaraton’ which provides a practice-oriented, engineering-inspired approach to STEM education with competitions revolving around real-world challenges, developed in collaboration with Danish companies. The project expands the current program aimed at 5th-6th grade pupils with an annual mini-marathon tailored for younger pupils.

Visit Natural Science Marathon’s webpage

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

The Science Olympiads aim to stimulate the interest of Danish high school students in the fields of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, geography, and computer science. The Olympiad builds on six tracks – one in each of the six fields – which each follow the same structure, kicked off with annual nationwide competitions. Around 20,000 students participate in the national competitions, often as an integrated part of their high school education. The most talented students can qualify to participate in the international Science Olympiads. The Science Olympiads challenge gifted students to expand their talent, promote future careers in science, and provide them with a valuable network of peers

Visit the Science Olympiads’ webpage

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

Clarissa Schwab’s project aims to investigate the role of switching from liquid to solid diet in the development of AD during infancy.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the first manifestations of allergic diseases that occur in early life. In industrial countries, up to 30% of children suffer from AD imposing an enormous burden to the quality of life and to health systems.

Not all factors contributing to the occurrence of AD are known, but the development of the gut microbiota in relation to a switch from liquid to solid diet during the first year of life might play an important role.

This project, ‘Infant AD’, suggests that a combination of specific food components and the appearance of certain gut bacteria is critical to producing gut metabolites that affect the immune system, and ultimately the state of the skin. To tackle such a complex system at the interface of diet, microbiome and the host, the concept of Infant AD is based on a unique combination of microbial and/or nutritional intervention studies using in vitro and in vivo models with state-of-the-art microbiome and metabolome analysis that will be supported by data collected from the Swiss birth cohort Childhood, Allergy, Nutrition and Environment (CARE).

Infant AD may shed further light on the complex interactions between diet, microbial activity and the immune system that could lead to novel measures to lower the risk of AD development in infancy.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: USA

Caroline Le Poole’s project aims to investigate the potential link between the gut microbiome composition and vitiligo development.

The etiology of vitiligo involves a complex hereditary component, as well as environmental factors that precipitate disease. Caroline Le Poole and her team initially asked whether the gut microbiome impacts T cell-mediated autoimmune depigmentation. Manipulating the gut microbiome by oral antibiotics, they demonstrated a significant impact on vitiligo development in an established mouse model of the disease. Specifically, when using ampicillin to favor gut colonization by Pseudomonas species, they observed accelerated vitiligo development. Meanwhile, neomycin treatment was associated with an abundance of Bacteroides species in the gut, while mice in this group did not develop measurable depigmentation. These and other findings suggest that specific microbes can influence vitiligo development.

Here, they will test the hypothesis that the microbiome is a causative pathogenic factor fueling the autoimmune response to melanocytes causing the hallmark progressive depigmentation seen in vitiligo. The team will use mouse and human fecal transplants and manipulate the diet of vitiligo-prone mice. Moreover, individual microbial species will be introduced into germ-free mice before assessing depigmentation kinetics. Ultimately, therapeutic benefit may be derived from promoting the species that support regulatory T cell activity.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: Canada

Ivan Litvinov’s project aims to co-create with Indigenous partners and implement a culturally sensitive dermatological care system in the Cree territories in Quebec, one of Canada’s First Nations. Dermatologic care for Canadian Indigenous populations is severely lacking currently. While many safe advanced treatments are available for debilitating diseases, including atopic dermatitis that affects ~15-20% of First Nations in Quebec, these treatments are not accessible in the Northern remote regions due to a lack of established care.

Ivan Litvinov’s proposed implementation science project will be centered on meaningful engagement of patients, health care providers (HCPs) and wider communities, continuous monitoring, analysis, and feedback based on collected data to the members of the steering committee and to the Cree Health Board/Elders overseeing the effort with the goal of achieving the Quintuple Aim (improved patient experience, better outcomes, lower costs, clinician well-being and health equity) for the region.

Ivan Litvinov’s project will leverage the existing RUISSS (Réseau Universitaire Intégré de Santé et de Services Sociaux) infrastructure to establish in-person care in 3 key Cree communities and will 1) establish a Learning Healthcare System (LHS); 2) collect quantitative and qualitative data on skin diseases, barriers and treatments; 3) recruit and support healthcare professionals to the region to foster a community of practice and promote a community of concern amongst patients through Patient and Public Involvement, knowledge mobilization and educational activities.

The impact of the project will be a co-creation of a culturally sensitive sustainable dermatologic care in the region. Results of this work will be shared with other specialties working in the region, other First Nation communities in Quebec in Canada and in other countries (e.g., Greenland).

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

Blaine Fritz’s project investigates the ongoing genetic changes and interactions between bacteria and patients’ skin during development of atopic dermatitis to identify novel putative treatment targets.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the most common skin diseases, affecting up to 20% of children and 10% of adults. AD presents as localized, itching patches of eczema, frequently first observed during childhood and often persisting throughout the patient’s life.

Dysregulated immune response, microbial imbalances, and skin barrier dysfunction are among several, interacting factors, which invoke and perpetuate AD. In up to 90% of patients, aggressive pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus displace the protective microbiota of the skin resulting in reduced microbial diversity and increased lesion severity. Clinicians commonly utilize antibiotics to treat bacterial infection in AD, but the efficacy is unclear and antibiotic treatment increases the probability of resistance.

The mechanisms and specific gene targets involved in host-microbial interactions by both commensal (non-pathogenic) and infecting bacteria are not well studied. This project hypothesizes that both protective and pathogenic bacteria on the skin dynamically activate specific host-genes and pathways during progression of an AD flare. To test this hypothesis, Blaine Fritz will utilize an integrated, machine-learning-based approach to identify longitudinal (i.e., over time) changes in gene-expression associated with the presence of specific bacteria during flare and treatment to identify direct, host-microbial interactions.

The findings will aid in elucidating bacteria’s role in AD and may guide antibiotic treatment, as well as identify novel targets for antibiotic-independent treatments.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: Norway

Ludvig Sollid’s project aims to improve the understanding of the pathogenic immune responses in dermatitis herpetiformis and hereby design and investigate potential new therapeutics for the disease.

Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH) is a chronic autoimmune bullous skin disease characterised by itchy blisters localised at specific surfaces of the body. DH can be considered a cutaneous manifestation of the gluten sensitive condition Coeliac Disease (CeD). The treatment for DH, as it is for CeD, is a life-long gluten-free diet and therefore novel treatments are sought for.

The diagnosis of DH is made by detection of granular IgA deposits in the dermis layer of the skin. These IgA deposits are immune complexes involving the autoantigen transglutaminase 3 (TG3) which is expressed in the epidermis, the outmost layer that sits above the dermis.

In this project Ludvig Sollid and his team aim to dissect the immunopathogenesis of DH, specifically addressing the mechanism for the generation of TG3 autoantibodies. Based on a model for the generation of autoantibodies to another transglutaminase (transglutaminase 2, TG2) in CeD, they will explore whether B cells carrying B-cell receptors isolated from DH patients, can bind complexes of TG3 and gluten peptides and thereby present gluten peptides to T cells so that T-cell help is provided.

Specifically, they will characterise the substrate binding site of TG3, identify the preferred gluten peptide substrates for TG3, and also characterise, in detail, the structural basis for binding of DH autoantibodies including antibodies that augment TG3 activity.

Based on these new insights, the team will design TG3 inhibitors which have potential therapeutic usage for treatment of DH along with a TG2 inhibitor which recently proved efficacious for treatment of CeD.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: Netherlands

Arjan van Laarhoven’s project aims to improve the treatment of patients infected with mycobacteria by looking at the patient’s individual immune responses to the infection and combining this with optimized treatment with antibiotics.

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) can cause debilitating skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI). NTM SSTI incidence rises with an aged population and increased use of immunosuppression. These infections require treatment with multiple antibiotics for minimally 4-6 months. Still, non-response or worsening of skin lesions occurs frequently, because antibiotics fail or too much inflammation occurs.

Arjan van Laarhoven and his team hypothesize that differences in the patients’ immune systems, so-called ‘patient endotypes’, drive these diverging treatment courses. Currently, the involved immune processes in the skin are not identified for NTM SSTI. In addition, it is unknown what antibiotic concentrations in the skin are needed to kill the NTM.

In this study, the team will investigate the individual immune response in the skin of NTM SSTI patients by measuring the activity of genes in individual cells, and how these cells interact. They will compare this to the immune cells in the patients’ blood and will use the combined information to understand how patients differ in their immune response to the infection. These findings will be related to the clinical response to antibiotic treatment.

After eight weeks of antibiotic treatment, a second biopsy will be taken, in which measurement of the number of live mycobacteria and the local skin drug concentrations of azithromycin and clofazimine will be repeated.

By providing targets for optimizing treatment with both antibiotics and anti-inflammatory or immunostimulating drugs, this project aims to improve the outlook for NTM SSTI patients.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2023

Geography: Denmark

Jes Dietrich’s project aims to develop a vaccine against a common pathogenic bacterium.

Streptococcus Pyogenes (Group A streptococcus, GAS) is a human pathogen causing billions of infections each year throughout the world. GAS is one of the most important bacterial causes of skin and soft tissue infections worldwide. There is no vaccine against GAS and the optimal immunity to protect the skin against GAS infection is still not fully known.

Jes Dietrich and his team have recently characterized the recognition of all GAS proteins in previously infected human adults and children, and successfully identified several GAS antigens that showed protective potential against a GAS skin infection.

Here, they will follow up on these discoveries. The aim is to produce a vaccine hybrid construct that will target several antigens on the bacterial surface as well as several of the bacterium’s early key immune inhibiting functions. Moreover, they will also investigate the immune correlates of skin protection.

Thus, the goal for this project is to develop a vaccine that protects against a GAS skin infection, and which is ready to proceed towards future clinical trials.