Biotech Academy Camp 2024 – Microbiology
Grantee: Victoria Francke, Biotech Academy (DTU Bioengineering)
Amount: DKK 211,260
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Biotech Academy Camp is an annual recurring event where 30 high school students from all over Denmark attend a week-long science camp. The purpose of the camp is to introduce potential students to theory and laboratory work and to spur young people’s interest in STEM in an engaging and practical way.
This year the theme is microbiology, and it is free for high school students to participate. Biotech Academy Camp is run by students at the Technical University of Denmark – DTU and the University of Copenhagen.
Photo exhibition: My Beautiful Skin (Min smukke hud)
Grantee: Charlotte Näslund Koch, Herlev-Gentofte Hospital
Amount: DKK 210,000
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
My Beautiful Skin (Min smukke hud) is the name of a photo project that aims to address the stigma of skin diseases and promote a more inclusive and natural beauty ideal. The recognized photographer Marie Hald has been commissioned to take a series of art photos, depicting 20 patients with different skin disease.
The photos will be exhibited at Department of Dermatology and Allergy – Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, accompanied by evidence-based information about the relevant skin disease. The photo exhibition is driven by clinical researchers in collaboration with the hospital’s communication team.
The LEO Foundation Award 2024 – Region Americas
Grantee: Shruti Naik, Associate Professor, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai
Amount: USD 100,000
Grant category: LEO Foundation Awards
Year: 2024
Geography: USA
Dr. Shruti Naik is Associate Professor at the Ronald O Perelman Department of Dermatology, NYU Langone Health, in the US.
She receives the award in recognition of her exceptional scientific achievements, clear long-term career objectives, and innovative vision for skin research – which delves into the complex interactions between immune cells, surrounding skin cells, and skin-dwelling microbes to understand the origins and progression of skin diseases.
ESDR Future Leaders Academy 2024
Grantee: European Society for Dermatological Research
Amount: EUR 25,000
Grant category: Research Networking
Year: 2024
Geography: Switzerland
The 2024 ESDR Academy for Future Leaders in Dermatology entitled “Translational innovation in dermatology” will be held 10-12 October 2024 in Uppsala, Sweden. The goal of this initiative is to foster excellence in academic dermatology and encourage gifted young dermatologists to further pursue their careers through guidance and mentoring. The program is primarily open to European residents currently engaged in skin-related research (MD, PhD, Post-Doc). The selected applicants will give oral presentation of their work and current research. The program will be completed by talks from selected senior scientists, from Future Leaders alumni serving as mentors and from guest speakers. Besides scientific sessions there is a strong emphasis on encouraging young people to network and to exchange ideas.
More information: https://esdrmeeting.org/
SID Future Leaders Retreat
Grantee: Society for Investigative Dermatology
Amount: EUR 25,000
Grant category: Research Networking
Year: 2024
Geography: USA
The Future Leaders Retreat (previously known as Resident and Post Doc Retreat) is a conference hosted by the Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) each year since 2001. The program format provides a protected space in which residents can interact with senior faculty and established investigators for the purpose of fostering attendee’s interest in academic research careers. The program is a combination of formal lectures and presentation, informal discussions, brainstorming sessions and social activities. The Retreat is held at the time of the SID annual meeting, which allows attendees to establish connections with each other, and to other meeting attendees. These social networks foster collegiality, collaborations, an appreciation for the creative, multidisciplinary nature of science and other productive interactions. Sustained exposure to the entire spectrum of dermatologic research will influence the trainees as they make their career decision, as well as build their enthusiasm for this area of science.
More information: https://www.sidannualmeeting.org/
Digitalt univers til databearbejdning af citizen science-genererede forskningsdata i gymnasiet
Grantee: Marie Rathcke Lillemark, Statens Naturhistoriske Museum
Amount: DKK 1,811,250
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen will establish a free online platform for high schools to support the education of ‘data literate’ citizens with hands-on skills in answering interdisciplinary questions through scientific methodology. The platform will provide free access for Danish high schools to data obtained in the Next Generation Lab initiative, an ongoing citizen science initiative in which students analyze archaeological findings at the museum’s lab using scientific methods, thereby generating large amounts of raw research data. The portal will enable students from all over Denmark to work directly with this data, guided by new educational material that supports its relevance within or across topics such as biology, biotechnology, chemistry, history, Danish language and literature, physics, and social studies.
Astronomy and natural science for kids (Astronomi og naturvidenskab i børnehøjde)
Grantee: Mille Marta Andersen, Go Zebra
Amount: DKK 978,420
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Go Zebra, a non-profit organization dedicated to stimulating children’s curiosity and bridging it to problem-solving and societal challenges through educational material with a special focus on engineering and innovation, joins forces with astrophysicist and science communicator Tina Ibsen in developing a free educational course on astronomy aimed for 4th-grade teachers and pupils. The developed material will become available for free on MeeBook (the learning platform most widely used by Danish schools), and classes participating in the project will have workshops facilitated by Go Zebra at their schools.
The overall ambition is to instill confidence in children that they can understand the world and have the capabilities to solve problems.
Sustaining the Voice of Science: Increase the Impact of STEM Communication Activities at DTU Skylab
Grantee: Christian Daniel Koldbech, DTU Skylab
Amount: DKK 998,333
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
DTU Skylab will produce two video series, in total ten videos, to promote interest in STEM innovation and entrepreneurship. One of the series will consist of documentaries presenting the most significant innovations that have been realized within the DTU Skylab framework. The other series will consist of interviews with in-house experts and Skylab-based student entrepreneurs sharing their experiences and advice for students.
The videos will provide behind-the-scenes insights into the nature of scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship.
The dermatologist’s table (Hudlægens bord)
Grantee: Vibeke Hjortlund, Videnskab.dk
Amount: DKK 1,262,415
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Videnskab.dk will produce a podcast series of 12 episodes that disseminate science-based knowledge to the public, about skin health and skin/venereal diseases. The series will be hosted by an MD in dermatology and will address several topics selected by a medical panel to reflect frequently asked questions from patients. Each episode will introduce novel research within the field with potential for enabling new or improved treatment, facilitated by Danish researchers. The podcasts are supplemented with popular science articles and short videos.
Enabling topical drug delivery of biologics across skin
Grantee: Niclas Roxhed, Associate Professor, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Amount: DKK 4,031,088
Grant category: Research Grants in open competition
Year: 2024
Geography: Sweden
Niclas Roxhed’s technology-focused project aims to investigate the potential of spiked microspheres as vehicles for large-molecular drug delivery into skin to treat diseases.
Modern biologic drugs have transformed the way we treat many diseases. However, these drug molecules are too large to pass biologic barriers and therefore need to be injected. For skin diseases, the outermost skin layer effectively prevents larger molecules from entering the skin.
To address this problem, Niclas Roxhed and his team have tailor-made ultra-sharp spiked microspheres that painlessly penetrate only the outermost skin layer and allow delivery of large molecules into skin. In this project, they will use these spiked microspheres in an atopic dermatitis model to topically deliver large-molecular nucleic acids and nanocarriers to inhibit inflammatory reactions. To verify effective delivery, Niclas Roxhed and his team will quantify inflammatory markers in skin using micro-sampling and proteomics profiling.
The results could form the basis for highly effective delivery of biopharmaceuticals as topical creams and potentially revolutionize treatment strategies in skin disease.