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Each year, five of Denmark’s research frontrunners are honoured with the Elite Research Prize. One of this year’s prizes goes to Niels Jessen from Aarhus University and the Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus at Aarhus University Hospital. He is currently looking into why bears do not suffer from serious complications despite being both inactive and fat.
2019.03.01 |
Niels Jessen is an expert in the use of medicine and has specialised in research into diabetes with particular focus on the significance of physical activity.
Bears hibernate for most of the winter, hardly moving for six months while also being pretty fat. Yet they have absolutely no sign of diabetes. The question is, how do bears avoid this problematic disease? The answer to this riddle is what Niels Jessen and a number of Scandinavian researchers are trying to uncover.
It is research like this which has led to Niels Jessen receiving one of this year’s Elite Researcher Prizes from the Ministry for Higher Education and Science. The prize includes a sum of DKK 1.2 million, with DKK 200,000 as a personal award of merit and DKK 1,000,000 intended for research activities.
Returning to the bears, it is obvious that they have something in their cells which could, if it could be copied for medicinal purposes, be useful in the treatment of diabetes. This will continue to be one focal point of research for Niels Jessen, who is clinical professor at Aarhus University and head of research at the Steno Diabetes Center at Aarhus University Hospital
Clinical Professor Niels Jessen
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus
(+45) 2859 6352
niels.jessen@biomed.au.dk