Novozymes Prize and Novo Nordisk Prize awarded

Jens Bukh, who heads the Copenhagen Hepatitis C Program at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager-Hvidovre and the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen, has contributed to giving thousands of people a better and longer life through his research within hepatitis C.

About 350,000 people a year die from hepatitis C, a disease that just a decade ago was very difficult to treat. Thanks to Jens Bukh’s pioneering research, the disease can now be cured as a result of his research on mapping the six major genotypes of hepatitis C and developing cell systems to develop drugs to combat the disease. The research has also been ground-breaking for understanding genotypes and treatment resistance and will hopefully one day also result in a vaccine that can definitively eliminate hepatitis C worldwide.

Major 2024 Novo Nordisk Foundation initiatives and grants include

• The first Novo Nordisk Foundation Global Science Summit held north of Copenhagen, which gathered 150 international experts to discuss the interplay of major health and sustainability challenges.
• A global partnership with the Gates Foundation and Wellcome to address a series of global health challenges.
• The launch of Denmark’s first AI supercomputer, Gefion, powered by NVIDIA technology, to accelerate research in academia and industry in areas including healthcare, quantum computing, and the green transition.
• More than DKK 2.8 billion (€375 million) awarded through grants in open competition. This included:
  1. Funding for six projects across three themes through the Challenge Programme, with two projects seeking to advance nuclear energy research.
  2. Funding for 41 exceptional researchers across various scientific disciplines in grants through the 2024 Research Leader Programme
• A grant of DKK 500 million (€67 million) for the Ancient Environmental Genomics Initiative for Sustainability (AEGIS) project, which aims to enhance crop resilience and agroecosystem sustainability. This project was also funded by Wellcome.

Jens Bukh says: “I have previously received other prizes, but I am especially honoured to receive this Prize, because I have been nominated by my colleagues from the Danish Society of Infectious Diseases and the Danish Society of Internal Medicine. It touches me that my colleagues greatly appreciate the contribution I have made to basic, translational and clinical research.”

Quickly began research on COVID-19

Although Jens Bukh’s research on hepatitis C spans much of his research career, the professor and chief physician has devoted much of his time over the past 2 years to researching SARS-CoV-2 .

Together with colleagues, Jens Bukh is also working on developing vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Although several vaccines are already on the market, vaccines that can protect for a longer period of time and against all variants of SARS-CoV-2 are needed.

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Impressive CV

Jens Bukh’s impressive CV also includes the names of the many researchers he has had under his wings as PhD students or postdoctoral fellows or currently employed as assistant professors, associate professors or professors in the Copenhagen Hepatitis C Program.

Jens Bukh’s research has resulted in 243 scientific publications, primarily in hepatitis C, with more than 25,000 citations.

Jens Bukh also received the Novo Nordisk Prize 2015 for his outstanding research work.

About the Hagedorn Prize

The Hagedorn Prize was established by the Danish Society of Internal Medicine in 1966 and is awarded at the Society’s annual general meeting to recognise excellent research or development efforts within internal medicine in Denmark. The accompanying award of DKK 1.5 million includes a personal award of DKK 250,000 and an award for research or development work of DKK 1.25 million. The Prize also includes the Hagedorn Medal.

About the Danish Society of Internal Medicine

The Danish Society of Internal Medicine, which has almost 4,500 members, is an umbrella organisation for the nine internal medicine specialties in Denmark. The Society aims to promote scientific research in internal medicine and the continuing education of the specialist physicians in internal medicine. The Society was established in 1916 and has a Board of Directors of nine members selected by the boards of each of the nine internal medicine specialties.