Research and Development

Basic and clinical investigations of the mechanisms that regulate the immune system. The balance between an aggressive, inflammatory response and a suppressive, tolerogenic response. These studies have implications for a better understanding of immune-related diseases such as autoimmune disease, allergy, and infections.

The fetus is semi-allogenic in relation to the pregnant woman. We study the mechanisms that modulate the pregnant woman’s immune system, maybe even before conception, in such a way that the developing embryo and the fetus are supported.

A dysfunction in these mechanisms may be important for the development of preeclampsia, certain cases of recurrent spontaneous abortions, and in cases of infertility that may be treated by optimized assisted reproduction techniques.

Immune effector cells are recruited to tumor sites, and they will have antitumor activity. However, often this activity is down-regulated by tumor-derived signals, which may lead to a significant worse prognosis for the patient.

One such potential important mechanism that leads to tumor escape from the host immune system is a selection of cancer cells that express the immune-modulating Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class Ib molecules, that are physiologically expressed in the placenta during pregnancy. In a range of research projects, we investigate the importance of immune molecules and cells in regulation of the immune system in the tumor microenvironment.

We develop molecular biological methods for clinical diagnostics and for use in research projects. Especially, we focus on Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), digital PCR techniques and bioinformatics. In one of our projects based on NGS technology, we work on the development of a new and alternative method for non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) of trisomies 21, 18 and 13 using cell-free fetal DNA in the maternal blood circulation.

Big Data: We focus on the use of large amounts of data from clinical biochemistry testing in research projects for obtaining deeper insights into biomedical disease processes and improvements in diagnostics.

We use the unique possibilities for medical research that exist in a clinical laboratory, where we are in contact daily with many different clinical departments. At the same time, we also have interesting contacts to other clinical laboratories and basic science institutes at Danish and international universities.

The department performs both basic science with clinical relevance and clinical studies based on sample material from groups of patients, where laboratory analyses are paired with clinical data.

Perspectives of the research are earlier and improved diagnoses of certain diseases, and ultimately an improvement in treatment. ​