Three researchers from Department of Neuroscience receive in total 6 Million from the Lundbeck Foundation
Andreas Toft Sørensen, Ilary Allodi and Rune Berg have each received a grant of 2 Million from the Lundbeck Foundation LF Experiments research programme.
The Lundbeck Foundation has established the LF Experiments research programme, which scope is to enable recipients to work on the audacious hypotheses they wish to test – either to produce new basic science or to develop new therapies for the benefit of neuroscience now or in the longer term.
In addition to its risk appetite – the hallmark of LF Experiments – the programme has a unique selection procedure. Jan Egebjerg, Director of Research at the Lundbeck Foundation, explains that this differs in many ways from the usual review process for research grants:
‘To begin with, the applications are reviewed anonymously. Reviewers only address the actual idea or hypothesis presented by the applicant in their written application. They have no idea who is behind the project, nor are they aware of the applicant’s gender or position. And then, there’s the “decisive votes” system. This is our trump card, and it’s unique to LF Experiments.’
Each reviewer uses this trump card to single out an applicant who, in their opinion, MUST be given funding – regardless of what the other reviewers ultimately think of the project in question. Director of Research Jan Egebjerg explains:
‘Standard procedures, which seek to find consensus, may discard the boldest applications. This trump card gives a chance to the particularly audacious projects – those the reviewers disagree on. Eleven of the 29 projects that ended up receiving funding were actually chosen due to the trump card system.’
Andreas Toft Sørensen
Associate professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, has been awarded a Lundbeck Foundation LF Experiments research grant worth DKK 1,990,389. He will use the grant to seek to develop a novel gene therapy to reduce overproduction of the beta-amyloid protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Ilary Allodi
Assistant professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, has been awarded a Lundbeck Foundation LF Experiments research grant worth DKK 1,999,987. The grant will be spent on studying the potential for using gene therapy to mediate interactions between spinal cord cells and motor neurons– the aim being to slow down the degeneration associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Rune Berg
Associate professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, has been awarded a Lundbeck Foundation LF Experiments research grant worth DKK 2,000,000. The grant will be used to investigate nerve activity in the spinal cord during sleep.