New Pre-graduate Scholarships support eight students

DFF | Medical Sciences has awarded a total of approximately DKK 1.5 million through its Pre-graduate Scholarships funding instrument. The grants enable eight students to undertake an independent research project under academic supervision, giving them their first experience of scientific research and insight into a potential research career. The applications were submitted by the students' academic supervisors, who are also the grant recipients, on behalf of the students.

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The Pre-graduate Scholarships are awarded twice a year and are intended to strengthen students' interest in pursuing a scientific career within the health sciences. The funded projects cover a broad range of topics, from new methods for predicting kidney injury following cardiac surgery and developing less invasive spinal surgery to research on atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, Crohn's disease, ovarian cancer and the role of the lymphatic system in disease.

See all Pre-graduate Scholarships

The eight projects investigate, among other things:

  • whether protein in the urine can be used to predict which patients will develop acute kidney injury following cardiac surgery,

  • whether ketone bodies, the body's own energy substrates, could become a new treatment for severe right ventricular failure, in which the right side of the heart is unable to pump blood effectively to the lungs,

  • whether artificial intelligence and MRI can replace CT scanning in planning less invasive spinal surgery for children and adolescents,

  • how the breakdown of elastin, the protein that gives blood vessels their elasticity, contributes to the development of atherosclerosis,

  • whether changes in adipose tissue can explain why some people with obesity develop fatty liver disease while others do not,

  • whether a new antibody can prevent scar tissue formation in patients with Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease,

  • how the immune system of blood vessels influences the development of ovarian cancer, and

  • why the lymphatic system, which returns fluid from the body's tissues to the bloodstream, fails in some patients.

Each Pre-graduate Scholarship is worth up to DKK 150,000, excluding overheads, and covers the student's scholarship as well as project-related operating expenses.

Please note that the grant amounts are subject to change following the final budget review.