Grant strengthens research in Alzheimer’s disease and the immune system
Kristian Juul-Madsen is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biomedicine, where he studies the interaction between the brain and the body’s immune system, with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s disease. He has just received the ‘Købmand i Odense Johan og Hanne Weimann Født Seedorff’ grant, amounting to DKK 1,356,000.
![[Translate to English:] Købmand i Odense Johan og Hanne Weimann Født Seedorffs legat bliver tildelt særligt lovende forskere under 40 år og skal sikre dem arbejdsro gennem økonomisk uafhængighed i op til to år.](/fileadmin/_processed_/4/0/csm_Kristian_Juul_Madsen_6cb0ca50ea.jpg "[Translate to English:] Købmand i Odense Johan og Hanne Weimann Født Seedorffs legat bliver tildelt særligt lovende forskere under 40 år og skal sikre dem arbejdsro gennem økonomisk uafhængighed i op til to år.")
The grant covers two years of salary and allows Kristian Juul-Madsen to fully dedicate himself to his research. The goal is to enable earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and to develop new drugs that can slow the progression of the disease by activating the immune system.
“My research focuses on so-called amyloid-β complexes, which are small clusters of proteins that accumulate in the brain, affect the immune system, and contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Using a new method that can measure the size and concentration of individual molecules, I investigate how these protein clusters form, activate the immune system, and are broken down,” explains Kristian Juul-Madsen.
According to the assistant professor, the research could have a significant impact on the growing group of patients and relatives living with - or who may one day develop - Alzheimer’s. At the same time, it could provide new insights into autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
The project is being carried out in collaboration with research colleagues from both the Department of Biomedicine and the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Aarhus University, including Professors Thomas Willnow, Morten S. Nielsen, Thomas Vorup-Jensen, and Gregers R. Andersen.
Contact
Assistant Professor Kristian Juul-Madsen
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Phone: +45 61 28 55 20
Email: juul-madsen@biomed.au.dk