Organisation profile

Head of research group: Lars Arendt-Nielsen

Co-chair: Kristian Kjær Petersen (Pain mechanisms by translational biomarker research)

Co-chair: Allan Stensballe (Inflammatory mechanisms and precision medicine by systems biology approaches)

Who we are?

An interdisciplinary and international research group with focus on translational human clinical research from wet laboratory to clinic. The aim is to understand disease pathophysiology and develop new biomarkers for profiling, screening and diagnostics. Our translational research team includes key competences within pain, omics, biosciences, bioengineering, medicine, neuroscience and neuropsychology. Our research takes a starting point in key global challenges linked to the WHO sustainable development goals.

Our research – what we do?

The Translational Biomarkers in Pain and Precision Medicine (TBPPM) Group investigates pathophysiology in key non-communicable diseases. Our translational research investigates the knowledge translation gap in major clinical challenges for patients and in particular those with pain and inflammatory conditions. One of our key competencies is pain profiling using sensory, inflammatory and imagining technologies for diagnosis and for identification of patients who are better suited for certain treatments. Similarly, we apply state-of-the-art post-genomic technologies to link disease pathology aspects through translational medicine research by biomarker-driven research to the patient in combination with the most inflammation profiling technologies. The goal is to generate knowledge, skills and competences for developing clinically applicable regimes for individualized personalized/precision medicine on pain and itch and to improve the treatment of chronic - in particular pain and inflammatory - diseases

How does our research contribute to societal health challenges?

The prevalence and incidence of non-communicable diseases has risen sharply in the last decades. These diseases are by far the leading cause of mortality and disability and they are responsible for up to 80% of health care costs. The global burdens of chronic pain and chronic itch are massive. The lack of adequate management of these disorders ranks high on the international research agenda. Mechanism-based biomarkers for screening, profiling and diagnostics will help developing personalized target management strategies. By combining psychophysics, questionnaires, genetics, proteomics, neuroimaging and electrophysiological disciplines, the group’s interdisciplinary composition is ideally staffed to gain novel disease insight and develop novel biomarkers.

Who are our key collaborators?

Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark; Aarhus University, Denmark; University of Southern Denmark; University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and related university hospitals; University of Washington, Seattle, USA; North Western University, Chicago; University of Calgary, Canada; Kochi Medical School, Kochi University; Meikai University, Japan; Örebro University Hospital, Sweden; Linköping University, Sweden; Rikshospitalet, Oslo University, Norway; University of Nottingham, UK; University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy; University of Parma, Italy; Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain; University of Sevilla, Spain; Ibselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland; Kiel University Hospital, Germany; Neomics Center (Shenzhen), China; The University of Queensland, Australia; and 10+ national and international companies.

Foto: Lars Horn