Christian Fogt Hjorth: Improving the stability of insulin drugs through characterization of important degradation products

Christian Fogt Hjorth has studied medicinal formulations of human insulin used for the treatment of diabetes. Insulin and other proteins are hard to make into pharmaceutical drugs as they can degrade, break apart or lump together during storage. Christian Fogt Hjorth has investigated how two insulin molecules can bind to each other during storage of the medicinal formulation. This type of insulin degradation product was shown to have very interesting properties and was the first of its kind to be characterized in detail by several protein characterization methods.

Christian Fogt Hjorth’s research has led to improved understanding of the insulin molecule and how to optimize new types of insulin drugs for increased stability – eventually leading to improved treatment for diabetic patients worldwide.

The PhD degree was completed at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Science and Technology, Aarhus University in cooperation with Novo Nordisk A/S, Måløv, Denmark.

This résumé is prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Monday 31 August 2015 at 14.15-17.00
Place: Room E5K11, Novo Nordisk A/S, Måløv
Title of dissertation: Identification of components in High Molecular Weight Products: Their properties and mechanism of formation
Contact information: Christian Fogt Hjorth, e-mail: cfth@novonordisk.com, tel.: +45 2721 2465. Guests must register one week prior to the defence to obtain a guest access card. Limited guest capacity.
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor John Carpenter, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado, USA
Professor Kasper Dyrberg Rand, Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen
Professor Rikke Louise Meyer (chair), iNANO and Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Professor Daniel Otzen, iNANO and Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisor:
Principal Scientist Helle Naver, Diabetes Protein Engineering, Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark
Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English.

The defence is public.
The dissertation is available for reading at the Graduate School of Science and Technology/GSST, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, room 112, 8000 Aarhus C.