The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (http://www.cpr.ku.dk) is being established at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, to promote basic and applied discovery research on human proteins of medical relevance. This major development has been made possible through a generous donation of 600 MDKK from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, being one of the largest single investments in life sciences in Denmark. 

The centre will comprise a wide range of expertise and skills, from in silico target identification, proteomics, high throughput protein production, chemical biology, disease biology and protein therapeutics. Within the centre, a Core Facility for Biotechnology and Chemical Biology will be established that will focus on the generation of recombinant human proteins for characterization and interaction studies (with protein partners as well as natural and chemical ligands). Additional five research groups will be established, in the areas of Proteomics (Prof. Matthias Mann), Disease Systems Biology (Prof. Søren Brunak) and three additional research groups focused on the roles of proteins in disease biology and therapeutics will be started during 2008 and 2009.

The laboratories will be housed at the Panum Institute in Central Copenhagen, and the building of state-of-the art laboratories will commence early in 2008. The laboratories will be ready for use by the end of 2008/early 2009 and the centre will at full strength employ more than 100 scientists.

The Center for Protein Research intends to become a regional centre of excellence and establish collaborations with leading research teams in ScanBalt BioRegion, in Europe and internationally.

For details, contact:

Michael Sundström,

Director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research,

+ 45 3532 2662,
michael.sundstrom@cpr.ku.dk

http://www.cpr.ku.dk