Vibeke Naja Høyrup Dam has been granted an Inge Lehman grant, worth 2.575.737 DKK, from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (IFRD) for her 3-year project "The PRIME-D Trial: Improving recovery in depression through pro-cognitive pharmacological enhancement of CBT" which will start Mar 1, 2026.
We congratulate Vibeke and look forward to hosting her project.
Brief scientific summary:
The PRIME-D trial investigates whether augmenting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with the 5-HT4 receptor agonist prucalopride improves memory function and treatment outcomes in depression. Cognitive deficits are common in depression and may limit CBT efficacy, yet no current interventions target these impairments directly. This double-blind RCT will enroll 106 medication-free patients with moderate to severe depression to receive 12 weeks of CBT plus prucalopride or placebo. Outcomes include memory performance, depression severity and patientreported experience. The trial aims to clarify whether memory enhancement mediates clinical response and whether prucalopride enhances CBT engagement. Findings could inform more effective, personalized treatment strategies for patients with cognitive dysfunction in depression.
- Details
- Hits: 66
Congratulations to Professor Lars H. Pinborg who on Friday December 5th was awarded the 2025 Niels A. Lassen Prize. Every year, the prize is awarded at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital's Niels A. Lassen day, which is their annual research day taking place as close as possible to Niels A. Lassen's birthday (December 7th).
The prize is awarded by the Niels A. Lassen Foundation, which was established in memory of Professor, Chief Physician, Dr. med. Niels A. Lassen (1926-1997) who was one of the most important Danish medical researchers of the 20th century. He developed several groundbreaking methods for measuring the body's blood flow and metabolism, and he was a pioneer in the development of methods that are now used with great success to map brain function.
- Details
- Hits: 129
NRU is taking part in the newly established EU Cost Action Networking Group entitled 'CA24130 - Psychedelic renaissance: turn on, tune in and drop in (PSY-NET)'. Essentially it is a "networking" grant, promoting pan-European scientific endeavors with a focus on including young researchers and those from under-represented EU countries (i.e., eastern Europe). This COST Action is about psychedelics and it contains six Working Groups (WG1-WG6). Drummond McCulloch is WG leader for WG4: "Advances in Neuroimaging", while Patrick Fisher is WG leader for WG5 "Data Sharing and Databases". The Cost Action is chaired by Tomáš Páleníček.
- Details
- Hits: 247
We are happy to share that the Research Council of Rigshospitalet has decided to grant to Martin Prener a 3-year PhD-stipend for his project 'Large Language Models for Electronic Health Record Analysis: Real-World Outcomes of Anti-Seizure Medications in Epilepsy' as well as a 1-year introduction stipend to Professor Vibe G. Frøkjær and Victoria Garre for Victoria's project 'Maternal social cognition and infant development: Early findings from an existing longitudinal cohort with mothers at high risk of perinatal depression and their children'.
- Details
- Hits: 210
Congratulations to post docs Kristian Reveles Jensen and Silvia Elisabetta Portis Bruzzone who have received each a research grant worth 600.000 DKK from the Research Fund of the Capital Region of Denmark. Kristian's project is entitled 'Precision psychiatry for women and men: Integrating EEG biomarkers with hormonal information to predict antidepressant effects and side effects' while the title of Silvia's project is 'Identifying functional genomic markers of postpartum depression to advance precision medicine in women’s mental health'.
- Details
- Hits: 211
Congratulations to post doc Søren Vinther Larsen for being granted 5.154.467 DKK from DFF for a 5-year research project entitled 'Neuroendocrine and Neuroimmune Effects of Combined Oral Contraceptives: Mechanistic Implications for Antidepressant Treatment Effects' and 597.087 DKK from the Research Fund of the Capital Region of Denmark for a 4-year project entitled 'Reproductive mental health: Optimizing treatment of depression in women using oral contraceptive'.
Combined oral contraceptive (COC) use has been linked to increased risk of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Emerging evidence suggests COCs alter brain serotonin systems and may affect endocrine and immune pathways involved in some MDD cases. This raises the possibility that women with MDD using COCs represent a distinct biological subgroup who may benefit from specific treatment strategies. As first-line antidepressant treatment (SSRIs) is only effective in about half of MDD patients, identifying such subgroups is crucial. Since 40% of young women use COC, they represent a highly relevant subgroup.
Across the two projects we will investiagte reversible biological effects of oral contraceptive use in both healthy women and women with depression. In doing so, we will study whether oral contraceptive cessation benefits antidepressant treatment and potential underlying mechanisms. The goal is to contribute to a more personalized and effective intervention for women with depression.
- Details
- Hits: 273
The NRU Christmas Symposium 2025 will take place on Friday, Nov. 28th from 9:00 to 15:30 in the RH Auditorium 2. The program is available here.
- Details
- Hits: 524
We are happy to announce that senior researcher Anjali Sankar has been granted 3.818.232 DKK from DFF for a 3-year (Aug 1, 2026 - July 31, 2029) research project entitled 'Serotonin 4 Receptor Agonism and Neuroplasticity: A Novel Approach to Cognitive and Antidepressant Treatment in Major Depression'.
Project summary: Depression is a leading cause of disability, and SSRIs often take several weeks to act and fail to address cognitive symptoms, which are key to recovery. This study builds on two key findings: (1) hippocampal neuroplasticity is a core mechanism underlying improvements in both cognition and mood, and (2) stimulation of the serotonin 4 receptor (5-HT₄R) yields rapid pro-cognitive and antidepressants effects. We will investigate whether prucalopride, a 5-HT₄R agonist, when combined with SSRI treatment, enhances neuroplasticity more quickly than SSRIs alone in patients, and whether these changes are linked to improvements in cognition, mood, and underlying brain network function. As impairments in neuroplasticity and cognition are linked to elevated suicide risk, we will also explore whether their enhancement corresponds to reductions in suicidal ideation. The study advances mechanistic understanding of treatment effects and represents a meaningful step toward precision psychiatry.
- Details
- Hits: 112
Professor Vibe G. Frøkjær has been granted 5.153.161 DKK from DFF for a 5-year (July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2031) research project entitled 'How hormonal intrauterine systems affect the female brain'. Congratulations to Vibe!
Project summary: The identification of adverse mental health effects of hormonal contraceptives motivates us to detect underlying mechanisms, to ultimately inform personalized contraception, which is safe for all. Even though hormonal intra-uterine systems (H-IUS) are highly popular alternatives to combined oral contraceptives, they come with a higher dose-dependent risk for adverse mood effects. Nevertheless, we completely lack data on H-IUS brain signatures, which can explain such adverse effects. In a longitudinal, within subject study in 50 healthy women, we will determine if a key brain receptor (serotonin 4 receptor) known to be implicated in cognition and mood, and to be reduced in combined oral contraceptive users, is also affected by starting a H-IUS. Further we will evaluate other plausible links between H-IUS and risk for mood symptoms, i.e. neuroplasticity markers, cortisol dynamics, and inflammatory status. We anticipate to identify mechanisms critical for hormone-related brain health.
- Details
- Hits: 95
NRU PhD student Sif Olsen was awarded 1st prize for Best Poster at the Annual Psychiatric Research Day, held on September 10th, 2025, at Rigshospitalet. Her winning poster was entitled “Emotion processing bias and cerebral 5-HT1B receptor binding in violent offenders with psychopathic traits” examining data from the Aggression cohort. The prize was 5000 DKK.
Congratulations to Sif!
- Details
- Hits: 609
- Prof. Gitte Moos Knudsen receives the 2025 clinical KFJ-award at Univ. Copenhagen
- Grant from Desirée and Niels Ydes Foundation for Kristian Larsen
- DFF project 2 grant for research in mild traumatic brain injury
- Søren Vinther Larsen has been awarded "Affekten"
- NRU annual report 2024
- Grant from Toyota-Fonden for powerful GPU server
- NRU at the Danish Society of Psychiatry annual meeting 2025
- Poster award for Clara Madsen at NeuroGrad Winter School 2025
- Large Lundbeck Foundation collaborative grant to Melanie Ganz-Benjaminsen
- Grants from Læge Sofus Carl Emil Friis og hustru Olga Doris Friis Legat