Novo Nordisk and Aarhus University's Science and Technology faculty today signed a collaboration agreement to strengthen protein technology research and development. Under the new collaboration, a total of nine PhD students will be offered three-year research scholarships. The research will take place in the leading technological research environments at Science and Technology, Aarhus University, and in Novo Nordisk's research and development department in Måløv. The Aarhus Novo Nordisk Science and Talent Network programme will run for five years.
"This is the starting point for a stronger collaboration between Aarhus University and Novo Nordisk, which is exploiting the powerful and growing synergy between research and industrial development," says Niels Chr. Nielsen, dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University. "The collaboration creates a unique opportunity to focus on talent development while uniting and further developing excellent research environments within the development of protein- and peptide-based medicines at Aarhus University and Novo Nordisk."
Aarhus University and Novo Nordisk are also seizing the opportunity to initiate collaboration on education. The intention is that students will have the opportunity to combine highly theoretical training directly with practical and industry-relevant problems.
"With this agreement, we are building an important relationship with some of the best research environments at Aarhus University in areas of technology that are significant to Novo Nordisk. Partnerships like this with leading research environments - and the training of talented young researchers - are important for driving innovation at Novo Nordisk," says Peter Kurtzhals, senior vice president, Global Research, Novo Nordisk.
Aarhus University belongs to the scientific elite and has, among other things, core competences within organic chemistry, protein chemistry and structural biology. Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. Over 5,400 employees work in research and development at Novo Nordisk in Denmark, the US and China, many of them in partnership with external biotech and academic researchers. The company has about 120 PhD students and postdocs worldwide - and soon also some in Aarhus.
A joint steering committee with members from Aarhus University and Novo Nordisk will have overall responsibility for the programme. The first three PhD students are expected to begin their research in 2017.
About Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. This heritage has given us experience and capabilities that also enable us to help people defeat other serious chronic conditions: haemophilia, growth disorders and obesity. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 41,600 people in 75 countries and markets its products in more than 180 countries.