Jens Høiriis Nielsen

Primary fields of research

• Pathogenesis of obesity and type 2 diabetes
• Pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes
• Experimental diabetes research
• Growth and function of the endocrine pancreas

Current research

• Molecular mechanisms involved in beta cell development, growth, survival and function in normal and pathological conditions.
• Fetal programming of beta cell growth and maturation in the perinatal period in rats: influence of maternal nutrition on gene expression and epigenetic changes.
• Beta cell adaptation to pregnancy: Identification of circulating factors in pregnant women on beta cell proliferation and neogenesis from stem cells.

Fields of interest

Research communication via Science Theatre arrangements (www.videskabsteatret.dk)

Introductory remarks on publicationslist

153 scientific publications including 96 original papers, 3 patent applications and 54 reviews book chapters and conference proceedings. In addition app. abstracts and >250 invited lectures.

Short presentation

Jens Høiriis Nielsen is MSc in Biochemistry and DSc in Cell Biology from the University of Copenhagen. He has published 140 original papers and reviews within the field of  beta cell biology and diabetes. He is particular interested in the molecular mechanisms involved in beta cell growth and regeneration under physiological and pathological conditions like fetal development, pregnancy, obesity and type 1 and 2 diabetes.

Teaching

• Course in endocrinology for medical students 2001-2016.
• Supervision of Bachelor and Master projects for students in medicine, biology, biochemistry, human biology and molecular biomedicine, in total app. 100.
• Supervision of PhD students, in total 25.

CV

• Head of the Department of Cell Biology at the Hagedorn Research Institute from 1978 to 2000.
• Visiting Professor at the Hormone Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, USA, 1990-91
• Employed at Department of Medical Biochemistry and Genetics, University of Copenhagen, in 2000, Associate Professor in 2001and Professor in 2006 at the present Department of Biomedical Sciences. Professor Emeritus from 2016.
• Invited to give the 27th Annual Arnold Lazarow Memorial Lecture at University of Minnesota, USA, 2002. Received an award from the Bagger-Sørensen Foundation in 2003.
• Received research grants from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the European Union, the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, the Danish Research Council, the Danish Diabetes Association, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Aase and Ejnar Danielsens Fund and Poul and Erna Sehested Hansens Fund..
• Member of the board of the Centre for Fetal Programming (CFP). Chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Denmark. Grant reviewer for several international grant agencies including JDRF and NIH.
• Organizer of EASD Islet Study Group meetings and international workshops on Beta Cell Biology in Denmark in 1997, 2006 and 2011.
• Co-organizer of joined conferences of the Banting & Best Centre, the Joslin Diabetes Center and the University of Copenhagen in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.