Professor Daan van Aalten receives a Villum Investigator grant of DKK 40 million
With the grant from VILLUM FONDEN, Daan van Aalten from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Aarhus University will identify which proteins carry a certain sugar modification that for unknown reasons is crucial for the development of animal embryos.
Proteins are the molecular machines that carry out all processes in the cells of living organisms. To allow multicellular organisms, such as animals, to develop from a single fertilised egg to birth, proteins need to rapidly respond to signals from neighbouring cells. This is achieved by small chemical modifications of proteins that act as on/off switches.
Professor van Aalten’s laboratory works on one such switch, a sugar called O-GlcNAc, that is absolutely essential for the development of animal embryos, for reasons that are not clear. Using the Villum Investigator grant, his team will investigate which proteins carry this O-GlcNAc switch, how that changes their activity, how this leads to changes in communication between cells in a developing embryo, and how proteins are selected to carry this modification.
From previous studies, Daan van Aalten and his research group have demonstrated that patients with intellectual disabilities lack this modification, suggesting that it is essential for proper development of the nervous system during pregnancy. With further research, the research group hopes to find answers to the above questions and eventually find a treatment for this group of patients.
About the Villum Investigator grant
The Villum Investigator Grant is a prestigious research grant of up to DKK 40 million for six years awarded to outstanding researchers in Denmark by the Villum Foundation. The grant provides funding to support research projects that have the potential to make significant contributions to science and technology. The grant is highly competitive, and the selection process is rigorous. Applicants must have a strong track record of research excellence and a well-developed research proposal that outlines their research objectives, methods, and expected outcomes.
About Professor Daan van Aalten
Daan van Aalten is originally from the Netherlands where he obtained his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Nijmegen, followed by a PhD in Biochemistry/Biocomputing at the University of Leeds. After postdoctoral work in structural biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, on an EMBO Long Term Fellowship, and the University of Oulu, Finland, he established his group at the University of Dundee with the help of a Wellcome Trust Career Development and Lister Fellowship, with a research focus in the area of molecular and cellular glycobiology.
With a grant of DKK 50 million in the form of a Laureate Research Grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Professor Daan van Aalten moved his research group from the University of Dundee to the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, AU, where he was appointed professor as of 1 June 2022.
On 17 April 2023, the Villum Investigators were celebrated at a ceremony at the VILLUM Window Collection in Søborg, which was attended by the Minister for Higher Education and Science, Christina Egelund, among others.
The 11 investigators were selected from among 52 applicants after a thorough evaluation process in which internationally recognised researchers in VILLUM FONDEN’s working group for technical and natural sciences selected 22 applicants for independent peer review, interviews, and subsequent approval by the foundation’s board.
See the list of the eleven researchers who received a Villum Investigator grant in 2023.
Contact information
Professor Daan van Aalten
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Aarhus University, Denmark
daan@mbg.au.dk