170 participants were present when Aarhus University and the Novo Nordisk Foundation welcomed them to the Novo Nordisk Prize Symposium 2013. The symposium featured lectures by both international and AU researchers on different aspects of macrophages.

2013.11.19 | Sabina Bjerre Hansen

Director for the Novo Nordisk Foundation Birgitte Nauntofte welcomes participants to the Novo Nordisk Prize Symposium 2013. Photo: Martin Gravgaard Fotografi.

The participants in the prize symposium actively participated in the debate on the significance of macrophages for inflammatory diseases. Photo: Martin Gravgaard Fotografi.

The recipient of this year’s Novo Nordisk Prize, Professor Søren K. Moestrup (on the far right), together with the researchers who gave lectures at the symposium. Photo: Martin Gravgaard Fotografi.

It specifically focused on the role that a special type of cell in the immune system (macrophages) plays in relation to inflammatory diseases. This was also the intention of the recipient of the Novo Nordisk Prize 2013 Søren K. Moestrup, who was charged with organising the prize symposium.

”There is considerable international focus on the role of macrophages in relation to inflammatory diseases. It was therefore wonderful that we succeeded in getting some of the leading researchers and collaborative partners in the field to attend the Novo Nordisk Foundation's symposium here in Aarhus,” says Søren K. Moestrup. 

High level of academic content and new inspiration

Department Head Thomas G. Jensen from the Department of Biomedicine tells that the various lectures were of a very high quality.

”It was for example fascinating to see how David Hume’s research group from Edinburgh had been able to film how the macrophages move around in the tissue and perform their different functions,” says Thomas G. Jensen.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation gave Søren K. Moestrup free rein to organise the symposium and to invite international experts in research areas that he himself is moving into.

”Hearing about their research results was inspirational. Not just for my own research group, but also for the many other researchers in Aarhus who are studying inflammation processes related to arteriosclerosis, obesity, hepatitis and lever inflammation, diabetes, infections and cancer,” says Søren K. Moestrup.

”I would like to congratulate Søren Moestrup on an extremely successful prize symposium. The day was full of inspirational lectures from absolute top researchers in the exciting field of macrophages and their significance for diseases. It was also pleasing to see so many active participants in the auditorium and how they all received valuable and updated knowledge from the competent lecturers. It was an honour and a great pleasure for the Novo Nordisk Foundation to be able to facilitate this opportunity,” says Director Birgitte Nauntofte, DDS, from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Professor, DMSc Søren K. Moestrup was awarded the Novo Nordisk Prize 2013 for his groundbreaking studies of the cell’s transport receptors and their significance for the development of diseases. As professor at the Department of Biomedicine and leader of the MEMBRANES research centre at Aarhus University, Søren K. Moestrup explores membrane receptors on the surfaces of the cells.