On May 1st, at 2:00 pm, Kristian Larsen will defend his PhD thesis entitled "Neurovascular, cognitive, and functional effects of classical
psychedelics in healthy individuals and patients with depression".
Venue: Nielsine Nielsen Auditorium, Panum Institute, Building 13, Blegdamsvej 3, Copenhagen
For details, click here
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Congratulations to NRU Senior Researcher Cyril Pernet who as of September 1, 2026 is appointed Associate Professor (part-time) for a 5-year period at DTU Health Technology, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark.
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Professor Vibe G. Frøkjær has been awarded H.M. Queen Margrethe II’s Science Award by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
Photo credit: Lars Svankjær/Videnskabernes Selskab.
The award recognises her pioneering research at the intersection of neuroscience and psychiatry, focusing on how brain chemistry and hormonal systems interact to shape mental health. Her work explores how hormonal fluctuations influence neurotransmitter systems in the brain and how these processes may contribute to both vulnerability and resilience to mental disorders. By combining advanced brain imaging with clinical and experimental approaches, her research bridges biological mechanisms and lived mental health outcomes. This integrative perspective contributes to a deeper understanding of conditions such as depression and stress-related disorders and may support the development of more targeted prevention and treatment strategies.
The Royal Danish Academy highlights her work as an important example of interdisciplinary research with strong societal relevance, addressing the growing global challenge of mental health.
Established in 2015 on the occasion of Queen Margrethe II’s 75th birthday, the Science Award is presented annually to an outstanding Danish researcher under the age of 50. The prize includes DKK 100,000 and is awarded for excellent scientific contributions within the fields represented by the Academy. The recipient is selected by the Academy’s Presidium based on nominations from its members, and the award is traditionally presented by the Queen in connection with her birthday.
NRU warmly congratulates Vibe on this prestigious recognition of her research and its impact on the understanding of mental health.
Danish news about the award: Link.
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Congratulations to Anjali Sankar for beeing selected as one of the winners of the Rafaelsen Young Investigators Award 2026. The award consists of a certificate, a USD 200 cash stipend, complimentary registration fee for the CINP2026 Congress in Glasgow, and three nights of accommodation during the Congress.
History of the Award: In 1986 Ole Rafaelsen and William Bunney were instrumental in establishing a CINP programme supporting the attendance of young scientists at the 15th CINP Congress. That programme was posthumously named the Rafaelsen Young Investigators Award to honour Dr. Rafaelsen, who died in 1987.
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PhD student Kristoffer Brendstrup-Brix has received a Simons Foundation Award at the Gordon Research Conference on Sleep in Texas, USA. The award was given for the abstract presenting his and collaborators’ research within sleep and neurobiology. Gordon Research Conferences bring together leading researchers from around the world to discuss the latest advances in their fields.
We congratulate Kristoffer on this recognition.
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We are happy to announce that we will be partaking in a newly funded initiative called 'The Nordic Center for Glymphatic Biology', which is an ambitious 5-year project generously funded by the Lundbeck Foundation and spearheaded by our close collaborator professor Maiken Nedergaard from Center for Translational Neuromedicine (CTN) at University of Copenhagen.
The project is expected to deliver a set of transformative outcomes with direct relevance for understanding and treating small vessel disease (SVD) and related neurodegenerative conditions. We anticipate:
- Identification of key anatomical and physiological bottlenecks that suppress glymphatic clearance in preclinical models of SVD.
- Development of a validated, gold-standard assay for quantifying glymphatic flow in awake animals.
- Discovery of one or more pharmacological agents that significantly enhance glymphatic clearance during sleep.
- Evaluation of long-term efficacy and safety of glymphatic enhancers in rodent SVD models, including cognitive and pathological outcomes.
- Validation of non-invasive human imaging techniques (MREG, contrast-enhanced MRI, SPECT) for assessing glymphatic function in patients.
- Establishment of blood-based biomarkers for brain clearance function.
- Translation of lead compounds and delivery strategies to the large-animal (pig) model.
- A cross-validated imaging and pharmacological platform that enables early identification and intervention in individuals at high risk of cognitive decline due to impaired brain clearance.
Together, these outcomes will lay the foundation for new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to SVD and Alzheimer's disease, with strong potential for clinical impact.
NRU's role in the project is to validate MREG readouts using nuclear imaging of CSF tracers. NRU will coordinate clinical SPECT imaging to establish correlations between tracer-based clearance and MREG-derived pulsatility signatures – critical for establishing MREG as a diagnostic tool. NRU's budget in the project totals 6,5 mio DKK.
Motivation for the Center: Dementia affects millions, yet prevention remains limited. The brain’s glymphatic system clears waste during sleep but fails in vascular diseases - a major dementia risk. This Nordic collaboration combines advanced imaging, animal models, and clinical studies to understand and restore glymphatic clearance. By identifying diagnostic tools and repurposing safe drugs, we aim to shift dementia care toward early detection and prevention. The project brings together internationally recognized investigators with complementary expertise in glymphatic research, brain imaging, fluid dynamics, molecular neuroscience, and translational medicine. The consortium includes academic leaders from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden, each contributing distinct methodological and conceptual strengths. Together, the team spans the full translational pipeline – from molecular discovery in animal models to clinical implementation of imaging tools and therapeutic strategies for patients with vascular disease. The proposal capitalizes on the uniquely strong and collaborative glymphatic research community in Scandinavia.
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Vibeke Naja Høyrup Dam has been granted an Inge Lehman grant, worth 2.575.737 DKK, from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (IFRD) for her 3-year project "The PRIME-D Trial: Improving recovery in depression through pro-cognitive pharmacological enhancement of CBT" which will start Mar 1, 2026.
We congratulate Vibeke and look forward to hosting her project.
Brief scientific summary:
The PRIME-D trial investigates whether augmenting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with the 5-HT4 receptor agonist prucalopride improves memory function and treatment outcomes in depression. Cognitive deficits are common in depression and may limit CBT efficacy, yet no current interventions target these impairments directly. This double-blind RCT will enroll 106 medication-free patients with moderate to severe depression to receive 12 weeks of CBT plus prucalopride or placebo. Outcomes include memory performance, depression severity and patientreported experience. The trial aims to clarify whether memory enhancement mediates clinical response and whether prucalopride enhances CBT engagement. Findings could inform more effective, personalized treatment strategies for patients with cognitive dysfunction in depression.
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Congratulations to Professor Lars H. Pinborg who on Friday December 5th was awarded the 2025 Niels A. Lassen Prize. Every year, the prize is awarded at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital's Niels A. Lassen day, which is their annual research day taking place as close as possible to Niels A. Lassen's birthday (December 7th).
The prize is awarded by the Niels A. Lassen Foundation, which was established in memory of Professor, Chief Physician, Dr. med. Niels A. Lassen (1926-1997) who was one of the most important Danish medical researchers of the 20th century. He developed several groundbreaking methods for measuring the body's blood flow and metabolism, and he was a pioneer in the development of methods that are now used with great success to map brain function.
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NRU is taking part in the newly established EU Cost Action Networking Group entitled 'CA24130 - Psychedelic renaissance: turn on, tune in and drop in (PSY-NET)'. Essentially it is a "networking" grant, promoting pan-European scientific endeavors with a focus on including young researchers and those from under-represented EU countries (i.e., eastern Europe). This COST Action is about psychedelics and it contains six Working Groups (WG1-WG6). Drummond McCulloch is WG leader for WG4: "Advances in Neuroimaging", while Patrick Fisher is WG leader for WG5 "Data Sharing and Databases". The Cost Action is chaired by Tomáš Páleníček.
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We are happy to share that the Research Council of Rigshospitalet has decided to grant to Martin Prener a 3-year PhD-stipend for his project 'Large Language Models for Electronic Health Record Analysis: Real-World Outcomes of Anti-Seizure Medications in Epilepsy' as well as a 1-year introduction stipend to Professor Vibe G. Frøkjær and Victoria Garre for Victoria's project 'Maternal social cognition and infant development: Early findings from an existing longitudinal cohort with mothers at high risk of perinatal depression and their children'.
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- Grants from the Research Fund of the Capital Region of Denmark
- Two new grants to Søren Vinther Larsen for research on oral contraceptives
- NRU Christmas Symposium - November 28th in RH-Auditorium 2
- DFF grant to Anjali Sankar for research project on treatment of depression
- DFF grant to Vibe Frøkjær for research project on how hormonal intrauterine systems affect the female brain
- Sif Olsen wins Best Poster at the Annual Psychiatric Research Day
- Prof. Gitte Moos Knudsen receives the 2025 clinical KFJ-award at Univ. Copenhagen
- Grant from Desirée and Niels Ydes Foundation for Kristian Larsen
- DFF project 2 grant for research in mild traumatic brain injury
- Søren Vinther Larsen has been awarded "Affekten"