Denmark

Stem Cell Research Groups

Research groups freely partner with regional public hospitals and universities, which gives stem cell laboratories access to a variety of researchers and funding sources. Of the established collaborations, the Danish Center for Stem Cell Research (DASC) developed in 2002 from nine separate research groups. The center was founded with government support via the Medical Research Council and Danish Research Agency. The nine participating universities or institutes include Aalborg University, University of Southern Denmark/Odense, Odense University Hospital, Copenhagen University, NsGene A/S, and the Hagedorn Institute. The DASC expands beyond research with umbilical cord blood and fetal tissue into adult stem cell differentiation as well. Areas of focus include neurologic function, liver function, osteopathic and joint disorders, insulin cell capabilities, and skeletal muscle function. The DASC aims to encourage translational science for treatment of these disease areas, to promote research training in stem cell biology, and to share stem cell knowledge with the public. It is a center without walls—a virtual collaboration effort.

Its doctoral school, the DASCDS, was established in 2003 with a grant from the Danish National Research Agency to incorporate interdisciplinary training across biotechnology industries and regenerative medicine research teams. All stem cell sources were explored at the school’s affiliated institutions—from embryo to cord blood to adult cells; research also included nonhuman embryonic [Page 339]cells. Active researchers were the primary faculty members, offering firsthand experiences in laboratory research for regenerative medicine. The program was headed by Jens Zimmer Rasmussen, a researcher affiliated with the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Southern Denmark, but closed in 2010.

A second established partnership involves the University of Southern Denmark, which hosts the Kassem stem cell research unit, or KMEB, at the Odense University Hospital. The university was founded in 1966 as Odense University and in 2007 opened the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen as an affiliate. Stem cell research at the university has been focused in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology for neural transplantation and tissue repair, and in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology to identify means and effects of stem cell differentiation.

Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark include Jens Zimmer Rasmussen and Morten Meyer, who have explored neural stem cells in rats and humans, isolated neural stem cells, and compared human fetal versus tissue-derived adult stem cell sources. In immunology and microbiology, Charlotte Harken Jensen has worked to identify differentiation and expression markers of mesenchymal cells of neural and endocrine tissues. Another university researcher, Niels Aagaard Jensen, has explored the differentiation of nerve and glial cells in the brain.

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