Professor Søren Riis Paludan from Aarhus University is heading the project that the Lundbeck Foundation has chosen to support. The project will study the immunological mechanisms that lead to brain damage.

2016.03.16 | Helle Horskjær Hansen

Søren Riis Paludan carries out research in the field of virology and immunology, the science of viruses and the immune system.

Søren Riis Paludan carries out research in the field of virology and immunology, the science of viruses and the immune system.

An innovative and groundbreaking health science research project. That is how the Lundbeck Foundation describes the project that Søren Riis Paludan and his group of researchers are about to begin, and which the foundation is supporting with DKK 10 million.

"My group has experience in the field of infections in the brain and will initially use the grant to continue the work of identifying and characterising the immunological mechanisms which contribute to fighting viral infections in the brain."

The research team will investigate how the immune system detects infections with viruses, and how the body then reacts to them. What usually happens is that the body’s immune system functions in such a way that the immunological processes fight the infection, but in some cases what happens is that the immune system helps to reinforce the disease processes.

"The hypothesis is that some of the mechanisms which we find in our studies of viruses also come into play in other diseases where we believe that the immune system is overactive in the brain," he explains.

The researchers will partly focus on a mouse model with relevance for sclerosis and partly on some psychiatric disorders. The project is being carried out in collaboration with a number of other groups at AU and a research group from the University of Southern Denmark.

The goal is for the project to lead to new knowledge about how the immune system is activated under abnormal conditions in the brain. This knowledge can contribute to promoting the development of new and improved treatments for diseases of the brain.

"We have chosen to support the project because the research idea is good and innovative and is, at the same time, rooted in a strong Danish research environment. The vision for our grants is to create a better life through new knowledge. It is therefore pivotal for the foundation to ensure that Søren Riis Paludan and his team have the best conditions for creative thinking and can thereby achieve breakthroughs in their research," says director of research at the Lundbeck Foundation Anne-Marie Engel.

Further information

Søren Riis Paludan
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Telephone: (+45) 2899 2066
srp@biomed.au.dk