Scientific Studies – Didactic, Student Motivation and Everyday Realism (Naturvidenskabelige undersøgelser – didaktik, elevmotivation og hverdagsrealisme)
Grantee: Kristoffer Brink Ladefoged, Danmarks Naturfagslærerforening
Amount: DKK 900,000
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.
Novel methods and technologies: Spatial transcriptomics, wildlings and 3D skin models
Grantee: University of Copenhagen
Amount: DKK 18,908,400
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.
The voices of STEM women (Stemmerne fra STEM-kvinder)
Grantee: Anéh Christina Hajdu, Foreningen Science City Lyngby
Amount: DKK 971,000
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Science City Lyngby will produce 18 videos of female STEM role models to create awareness and interest among girls in STEM activities and education. The videos consist of three series, one focusing on personal stories of women working in STEM jobs, and another on interviews with well-known female science profiles of influence. The final series features girls attending Science Club, an after-school program offered by Science City Lyngby. The Science Club girls will also be actively involved together with a professional journalist in the planning and execution of the video series, creating identification and ensuring relevance for the main target group. The videos will be disseminated through 10 roadshows in other Danish municipalities, presentations at lower secondary schools, and a social media campaign also targeting parents and teachers.
PARK
Grantee: Joakim Quorp Matthiesen, Folkeuniversitetet in Aarhus
Amount: DKK 996,500
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Folkeuniversitetet in Aarhus will establish a free annual science festival, PARK, for the public to take place at Aarhus University Park. Leading scientists will give talks about the latest research results, with the aim of promoting curiosity and contributing actively to democracy. The program will also feature events within music, literature, and art.
Through the researchers’ eyes (Med forskernes øjne)
Grantee: Karsten Elmose Vad, University of Copenhagen, GLOBE Institute
Amount: DKK 993,090
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The project Through the researchers’ eyes aims to improve natural science education in the lower secondary school by applying a teaching method known from the arts, Visual Thinking Strategies, which focuses on strengthening students’ skills within observation, description, and discussion – key elements also of the natural science disciplines – to stimulate students’ curiosity and active participation. The project is a collaboration between both education experts and university researchers from Copenhagen University, experts from VTSdanmark and chosen teachers.
Exploring Autoimmune Skin Diseases with Immune-Integrated 3D Skin Models
Grantee: Jonathan Brewer, Professor, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Amount: DKK 3,992,375
Grant category: Research Grants in open competition
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Jonathan Brewer’s project, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Mike Barnkob, aims to advance skin biology by developing a much-needed human skin model with immune components, enabling detailed study of skin responses to stress and disease. By creating both normal and diseased skin models, with a focus on Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (CLE), Jonathan Brewer and his team will investigate the immune processes underlying CLE skin manifestations and provide a platform for developing targeted treatments. These models will also allow Jonathan and the team to study how skin and immune cells respond to UV radiation and mechanical forces, both of which play a significant role in CLE, where such stimuli can exacerbate skin lesions. A key innovation is the use of MERFISH technology, which maps gene activity within individual cells. This will reveal how specific genes are activated or suppressed in response to stimuli, providing insights into how skin adapts over time at the single-cell level. By comparing normal and CLE skin models, they will identify unique pathways involved in disease progression in CLE, offering potential targets for new therapeutic strategies.
The results of the project will be 3D skin models that mimic the structure and environment of human skin, enabling a wide range of experimental applications, including more rapid and ethical drug discovery. The project will also deliver the identification of pathways and molecular regulators involved in CLE and skin responses to UV and mechanical stimuli, supporting targeted treatment development and improved patient outcomes.
ATHENA- Artificial Intelligence Towards Holistic Evaluation of Skin Nanotexture Alterations
Grantee: Edwin En-Te Hwu, Associate Professor, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Amount: DKK 3,992,314
Grant category: Research Grants in open competition
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
The ATHENA project will explore the untapped potential of stratum corneum nanotexture (SCN, the nanoscale morphology of the outermost skin layer) to advance research and clinical evaluations of challenging-to-diagnose conditions: psoriasis, hand eczema (HE), and actinic keratosis (AK). Edwin En-Te Hwu’s MIDAS group has previously demonstrated that deep learning models could classify atopic dermatitis severity through SCN with high accuracy. Building on these findings, ATHENA aims to identify disease phenotypes across ethnicities and skin phototypes to optimize treatment strategies. ATHENA will: a) collect 1,050 stratum corneum tape strip samples from five countries across four continents, b) build a large dataset of 13,500 SCN images, c) develop self-supervised deep learning models to correlate SCN with skin conditions, and d) explore and identify robust SCN biomarkers for skin diseases. The non-invasive stratum corneum tape strip sampling method is painless and repeatable, causing no tissue damage and allowing frequent monitoring of therapy and disease progression. This method enables patients to collect samples at home for remote analysis, facilitating early detection and intervention to reduce social and economic burden.
Langerhans cells (LC) as main drivers of vitiligo: potential targets for novel therapeutic approaches with chemically enhanced RNA aptamers
Grantee: Julián Valero, Assistant Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
Amount: DKK 3,999,441
Grant category: Research Grants in open competition
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Julián Valero’s project explores an innovative approach for targeted drug delivery into the skin through the utilization of RNA aptamers (RNA snippets that are capable of binding to specific targets with high affinity and specificity). In collaboration with Patrizia Stoitzner and Helen Strandt (Medical University Innsbruck), Steffen Thiel (Aarhus University), Claus Johansen (Aarhus University Hospital) and Niels Schaft (University Hospital Erlangen), Julián Valero and his team will develop chemically modified RNA aptamers to target Langerhans cells (LC) or to block immune responses, aiming to develop treatment options for the autoimmune disease vitiligo. This disease is characterized by the infiltration of autoreactive cytotoxic T cells into the skin causing destruction of melanocytes important for producing skin pigments as UV-protection shield. The project will explore different approaches to dampen the autoimmune process during vitiligo, including the potential of local delivery of (i) anti-inflammatory molecules, (ii) antigenic peptides to reprogram CD4+T cells to regulatory T cells and (iii) immuno-blocking aptamers.
This project may enable development of innovative skin vaccination strategies and local anti-inflammatory treatment. Ultimately, this research holds the potential to alter skin-targeted therapies, enhance immune responses, and mitigate off-target effects by cell-specific delivery of novel vaccines.
Early protein biomarkers in childhood atopic dermatitis
Grantee: Ann-Marie Schoos, Clinical Research Associate Professor, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital/COPSAC, Denmark
Amount: DKK 3,501,080
Grant category: Research Grants in open competition
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Ann-Marie Schoos’ project explores atopic dermatitis (AD), which affects about 1 in 5 children. The disease burden of AD varies; some outgrow their disease while others have persistent symptoms. The reasons behind these different outcomes are not well understood and are not addressed by current treatments. Biological markers (biomarkers) can help us understand the disease better and, ideally, help predict, prevent, or treat it more effectively. Proteins can be used as biomarkers and appear in the blood due to secretion or cell damage. While there have been studies identifying such biomarkers (using proteomics) in adults, there is limited research on children, especially in relation to the early stages of AD. To understand the processes involved in early development of AD, Ann-Marie Schoos’ project will explore a novel, large-scale panel of blood-borne proteins measured before and after disease development (at birth, 6 months, 18 months, and 6 years of age) in the well-characterized COPSAC2010 cohort. The children of this cohort have been followed intensely throughout childhood with longitudinal (i.e., over time) measurements of inflammation, allergy, immune data, and genetics among others.
Ann-Marie Schoos’ project hopes to show that a simple blood test in early childhood can predict which children are at high risk of developing AD and who will have a severe and persistent disease course. This could lead to personalized prevention or treatment strategies, improving the quality of life for these children.
Researchers Communicate (Forskerne Formidler)
Grantee: Vibeke Hjortlund, Videnskab.dk
Amount: DKK 2,500,000
Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants
Year: 2024
Geography: Denmark
Videnskab.dk will further develop the existing initiative Forskerne Formidler (Eng. Researchers Communicate), now with an expanded international focus. The overall purpose of Forskerne Formidler is to provide easy access for the public to the science that shapes the world, directly from the scientists themselves. With a continuation of the program and platform it will focus on the development of three different areas: new genres and improvement of quality for existing, courses and training in dissemination for scientists, and international distribution, collaboration and network within academic journalism.
Videnskab.dk is Denmark’s leading popular science media with around 1 million monthly users. The media is an independent source of daily science news, features and other quality content in many different formats.
Forskerne Formidler is supported by the LEO Foundation alongside the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Lundbeck Foundation, and the Augustinus Foundation.