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Grant recipient

Lærke Gasbjerg

Mechanistic and therapeutic investigations of splanchnic blood redistribution
Grant amount: DKK 9.998.511

When you eat, food is digested by the intestines and transferred to the blood. The blood stream transports the digested food to organs of your body which for example need food as an energy source. Eating is therefore essential and when you eat, the blood volumen is increased in the abdominal area to support the digestion and transport digested food. But for some people, this phenomenon leads to symptoms such as dizziness, raised pulse, and fainting. They suffer from low blood pressure called postprandial hypotension and are challenged by eating due to the invalidating symptoms. With this Novo Nordisk Foundation Investigator Grant, I will establish my research group at University of Copenhagen and Rigshospitalet (Copenhagen) and study blood volumen changes in two patient groups with modern imaging techniques (MRI) and also, study the mechanism as well as evaluate treatment options in animals based on hormones that we know are related to blood volume changes during eating.

Lærke Gasbjerg
Lærke Gasbjerg
Assistant Professor, Molecular and Translational Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen