For the fourth time, the Danish Cardiovascular Academy (DCAcademy) has awarded grants to the cardiovascular research field – this time amounting to 22 million DKK. In mid-April, 23 researchers received the positive news that they have been awarded a grant for their research projects.

— This year, our grant committee faced a challenging task in selecting the 23 most promising and innovative research projects. I look forward to following their contribution to our understanding and treatment of cardiovascular disease, says Christian Aalkjær, Executive Managing Director, DCAcademy.

“It is crucial that we support this research field”

Out of the 22 million DKK that DCAcademy is granting this year, the Danish Heart Foundation is granting 6 million DKK. The granting from The Danish Heart Foundation is distributed over six PhD projects and four 5-year clinical part-time Postdoctoral Fellowships.

With cardiovascular disease being the second most common cause of death in Denmark, the research within this field is crucial.

— We are very proud that we can help strengthen research within cardiovascular diseases. It is crucial that we support this research field so that we can discover new ways to help heart patients and their relatives, says CEO of the Danish Heart Foundation, Anne Kaltoft.

Fortunately, Anne Kaltoft is optimistic about this year's selected projects and adds:

— Danish research is always capable of delivering interesting results and important discoveries, and it is very important to support this.

The research projects range broadly

— I believe that this year’s chosen research projects will make a significant difference for people with cardiovascular disease, their relatives, and for the society. With cardiovascular disease being such a wide research field, the grant committee also chose research projects that range broadly, Christian Aalkjær says.

This year, the research projects range broadly from clinical studies of coronary atherosclerosis in the Copenhagen General Population Study and small vessel disease of the brain and heart, to epidemiological studies of maternal medication use in pregnancy and cardiac abnormalities in the offspring, to basic research projects that investigate the effect of recipient diabetes on the proteome of transplanted human hearts.

The 23 Grant Recipients and their respective projects will be presented on our website www.dcacademy.dk on the 22^nd of August 2024 at 12:00 PM.

DCAcademy is funded by The Danish Heart Foundation and The Novo Nordisk Foundation 2021-2026.

This year, DCAcademy supports:

14 PhD projects 
Five 2-year full-time Postdoctoral Fellowships
Four 5-year clinical part-time Postdoctoral Fellowships

PhD grant recipients and titles of their projects:

• Ara Shwan Media, Aarhus University: Physiologic Significance of Pectus Excavatum Correction
• Camilla Schelander Hansen, University of Southern Denmark: Investigating somatic mutations and clonal cell populations in human atherosclerosis
• Daniel Tchemerinsky, Aarhus University: Outcome Prediction for Cardiac Arrest
• Emilie Bahne Thygesen, University of Copenhagen: Healthy lifestyle before and during pregnancy - The haemostatic benefits for mother and child
• Emilie Katrine Kongebro, University of Copenhagen: Screening For Atrial Fibrillation: A study of adverse effects including bleeding events, quality-of-life aspects and health economic consequences
• Giaan Ninh, University of Copenhagen: Maternal medication use in pregnancy and cardiac abnormalities in the offspring
• Justus Florian Gräf, University of Copenhagen: Genetic regulation of blood plasma traits and their impact on complex cardiovascular diseases
• Kezia Jerltorp, University of Copenhagen: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging assessment of early and late pulsed field ablation lesions
• Louise Marqvard Sørensen, University of Copenhagen: EMPagliflozin after Aortic Valve Replacement, The EMPAVR study, A randomized clinical trial
• Nicoline Wichmand Thorsen, University of Copenhagen: 3-Dimensional spatial proteomics and degradomics to elucidate rupture mechanisms and improve diagnosis of human atherosclerotic plaques
• Sophie Sander Knudsen, University of Copenhagen: Prevalence of elevated cardiac troponin and mechanisms of cardiac troponin release among patients with non-cardiac illness in plasma and skeletal muscle tissue
• Stine Foged Lindegaard, Aalborg University: Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness of a Structured Follow-up Program for Patients with Pulmonary Embolism: A clinical multicentre pre-post study
• Thomas Ehlig Hjermind Justesen, University of Copenhagen: Small vessel disease of the brain and heart, -A perfusion PET study of training effects
• Tummas Ternhamar, University of Copenhagen: Combination of cardioprotective glucose-lowering and lipid-lowering drugs in cardiovascular and renal disease prevention in type 2 diabetes.

Postdoctoral grant recipients and titles of their projects:

• Emily Anne McKaige (2-year), University of Copenhagen: Exploring the mechanistic role of DES in electrical dysfunction and atrial fibrillation
• Marta Trius (2-year), University of Copenhagen: CARDIOSIP: Exploring the Interplay of Drinking Patterns, Cardiometabolic Parameters, and Cardiovascular Disease Occurrence
• Mikkel Skjoldan Svenningsen (2-year), University of Copenhagen: Heart transplantation as a model system: elucidating the effect of a diabetic environment on the human heart proteome
• Simon Birk Kjær Jensen (2-year), University of Copenhagen: Cardioprotective mechanisms after termination of incretin-based treatment
• Steffan Noe Niikanoff Christiansen (2-year), Aalborg University: The Deadly, the Deleterious, and the Dangerous - Decoding the Differential Pathogenicity among CALM1, CALM2, and CALM3
• Andreas Fuchs, The Heart Center (5-year), Rigshospitalet: Coronary atherosclerosis in the Copenhagen General Population Study
• Casper Schwartz Riedel (5-year), Zealand University Hospital: Cerebrovascular hemodynamics of obstructive sleep apnea
• Christian Stæhr (5-year), Aarhus University Hospital: Secondary brain injury after cardiac arrest - mechanisms and promising therapies
• Thomas Hadberg Lynge (5-year), Amager and Hvidovre Hospital: Risk factors of sudden cardiac death in patients with psychiatric disease.

Next call

Next call for applications opens October 2024 with application deadline in February 2025.