Major research grants

AIM@CANCER is a visionary national project supported with 53 million DKK by the Novo Nordisk Foundation in 2025. Launching in 2026, the goal of AIM@CANCER is to develop advanced AI vision foundation models that will support a wide range of clinical tasks, elevate quality across the entire radiotherapy treatment pathway and be deployed across all of Denmark – and ultimately in low- and middle-income countries.

The foundation models will be developed utilizing large-scale medical imaging datasets from radiotherapy by harnessing the power of the Gefion supercomputer.

Grant recipient: Stine Korreman, professor at DCPT.

Partners: Jens Petersen, University of Copenhagen, Ivan Richter Vogelius, Rigshospitalet and University of Copenhagen, Christian Rønn Hansen, Odense University Hospital and University of Southern Denmark, and Harini Veeraraghavan, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the purpose of the BioParticle research programme is to develop the pre-clinical and translational interdisciplinary research in particle therapy at DCPT and improve the clinical use of proton therapy.

This includes research in novel techniques for proton therapy, such as FLASH therapy (radiotherapy delivered with ultra-high dose rates), Grid therapy (spatially fractionated proton therapy) and developing techniques for tumour and organ motion. Radiobiology research includes studies on biological effects between photon and proton radiotherapy as well as tumour biology and biological mechanisms in proton therapy, e.g. combined with other forms of treatment such as immunotherapy.

BioParticle is supported by a grant of DKK 26. mio. from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Grant recipient
Cai Grau, Head of Research, Professor.

Professorships
Brita Singers Sørensen
Niels Bassler
Jesper Folsted Kallehauge
Jasper Nijkamp
Jacob Graversen Johansen

The primary endpoints of The Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group DAHANCA35 trial is to test whether proton therapy reduces the prevalence and severity of swallowing difficulties and dry mouth in patients with head and neck cancer compared to photon therapy. Secondary endpoints are comparison of acute toxicity, late toxicity and quality of life associated with both treatments.

The DAHANCA35 trial is supported by a grant of DKK 8.5 mio from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for the collection of data, examinations and establishment of an online quality assurance tool. PI: Jeppe Friborg, MD, The Danish Centre for Particle Therapy Aarhus University Hospital and Department of Clinical Oncology, Rigshospitalet.

Read more about clinical trials at DCPT.

The primary aim of the DBCG (Danish Breast Cancer Group) Proton National Randomized Clinical trial is to investigate whether the prevalence of clinical cardiac events can be reduced by proton therapy compared to photon radiotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer. Secondary endpoints are time to and location of recurrence, breast cancer survival and overall survival. The trial has received a grant of more than DKK 9 mio from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

PI: Professor, consultant, PhD Birgitte Vrou Offersen, Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology, the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy, Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital.

Read more about clinical trials at DCPT.

The PROTECT Trial (PROton versus photon Therapy for Esophageal Cancer – a Trimodality strategy) compares preoperative proton versus photon chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced esophageal cancer.

The randomised clinical trial is developed by the The Danish EsophagoGastric Cancer group (DEGC) in collaboration with partners from the European Particle Therapy Network (EPTN). The trial will test the hypothesis that dose reductions to critical organs at risk by proton therapy will result in lower rates of treatment-related complications. The protocol is including patients with expected 400 patients enrolled in total. 

Read more at https://protecttrial.eu/.

Funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, this interdisciplinary research project aims to develop new methods of measuring the quantity and distribution of radiation delivered in radiotherapy in diseases such as cancer.

Headed by Professor Peter Balling, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University and Professor Ludvig Paul Muren, the project will develop new materials and optical methods to measure absorbed dose distribution in 3D. The project will demonstrate the clinical application of the new dosimeter technologies, and this also applies within the newest treatment technologies such as proton beam therapy and in integrated MRI and beam therapy installations.