Student from Aarhus receives Novo Scholarship 2014

Pernille Ommen Andersen conducts research into cells known as fibroblasts and their significance for the disease psoriasis. The research is now being supported by Novo Nordisk and Novozymes, who have awarded Pernille Ommen Andersen a scholarship from their Novo Scholarship Programme. The scholarship gives Pernille Ommen Andersen DKK 7,000 a month over eight months, in total DKK 56,000.

Fibroblasts have been described as the building blocks for all tissue and adipokines, which are signal molecules produced by fatty tissue, have a regulatory effect on them. The aim of Pernille Ommen Andersen’s research is to uncover the role played by the fibroblasts in psoriasis, and how they are regulated by adipokines.

Patients suffering from psoriasis will therefore be able to benefit from the research; both in the form of greater knowledge about complications, but also in the form of new treatment targets.

“Psoriasis rarely appears alone. The disease is often accompanied by obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The general view is that adipokines contribute to these complications. I will therefore examine the correlation between psoriasis and the complications by studying the impact of the adipokines on the fibroblasts. This could turn out to be the missing link in our understanding of it,” explains Pernille Ommen Andersen.

The scholarship will be a big help.

“The scholarship from Novo Nordisk and Novozymes gives me the necessary financial peace-of-mind to immerse myself in the project, and I do not need to have a student job in addition to my studies. And it really confirms that there are others who also believe in my project,” says Pernille Ommen Andersen.

The scholarship was presented at the Novo Scholarship Symposium on 22 January 2014.

Pernille Ommen Andersen was born on 25 June 1990 in Horsens, Denmark.

Further information

Student writing the MSc thesis Pernille Ommen Andersen
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine  – Derma-venereological Research Laboratory S
Direct tel: +45 8746 1905
peoa@ki.au.dk