University of Southern Denmark

Team Leader

Team Staff

About SDU

The University of Southern Denmark (SDU), the third-largest university in Denmark, is a leading education and research institution with strong regional and global industry connections and an active role in the international scientific community. The Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB), located at the Odense Campus, consists of five sections: Biomedical Mass Spectrometry and Systems Biology Section, Functional Genomics and Metabolism, Bioimaging, Biophysics and Nanoscience, Microbiology and Pathogenic Bacteria, and Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, comprising 29 principal investigator groups.

The Biomedical Mass Spectrometry and Systems Biology Section section, the largest with 90 research and administrative staff, hosts advanced mass spectrometry infrastructure established through major infrastructure grants supported by Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, VILLUM Foundation and Novo Nordisk Foundation.

This includes 19 high-resolution mass spectrometers – such as two Thermo Orbitrap Astral and two Bruker timsTOF Ultra2 instruments (installed January 2025) – alongside extensive chromatography systems and a fully equipped gel electrophoresis and western blotting facility.

In the MARKOPOLO project, SDU leads Work Packages (WP) 9 and 10 and co-leads WP13. In WP9, SDU oversees initial omics screening and biomarker discovery, applying omics techniques to preclinical models and performing quantitative proteomics on clinical samples from noise exposure trials. In WP10, SDU conducts advanced omics analyses, focusing on redox-phospho-proteomics to identify molecular changes induced by environmental stressors in mouse and human samples. As co-leader of WP13, SDU integrates molecular, environmental, and clinical data, finalises omics analyses, and reviews datasets for inconsistencies. These contributions help build mechanistic models linking exposures to heart and brain disorders.

SDU’s role in MARKOPOLO reflects its strengths in proteomics research. Leveraging state-of-the-art mass spectrometry and bioinformatics capabilities, SDU is pivotal in uncovering biomarkers and pathways associated with chronic non-communicable diseases, contributing to the project’s overarching goals.