Dept. of Medical Endocrinology
The Diabetes Research Institute
Odense University Hospital
Dept. of Medical Endocrinology
Sdr. Boulevard 29
5000 Odense C.
Internet: www.ouh.dk

Head of Diabetes Research: Prof., DrMSc Henning Beck-Nielsen.

The department deals with four major endocrinological specialties: diabetes, thyroid diseases, diseases of the pituitary- adrenals- gonads, bone/mineral diseases and eating disorders.
Active research is performed in all areas, and the department has founded a research institute for Clinical Endocrinological and Molecular Therapy devoted to developing cellular therapy based on stemcells and adult islets of Langerhans.

This section, in particular, works on cells adapted for therapy within bone/mineral diseases and diabetes.
The clinical and research sections are lead by 9 specialist doctors. PhD students are working in the department continuously and a number of 3-4 PhD degrees are finalizing each year.
The department holds a test room for metabolic tests within the area of diabetes. This section is serviced by 2-3 bioanalytics, and this staff will also take care of the blood tests performed in the LADA trial. Also, the department is assisted by two project nurses working on clinical trials on diabetes and osteoporosis in particular.

Scientific sections:

ERU (EFE): Endocrine Research Unit
CMET (KMEB): Clinic for Molecular Endocrine Therapy
Research Institute of Metabolism providing summer schools for PhD students
BioTEAMsouth: comprising a collaborative teamwork for developing scientific strategies
http://www.bioteamsouth.dk/home/news.php

Diabetes: patients with diabetes contribute the highest number of contacts. An in-patient clinic provides 24 beds and the number of outpatient visits number to 22,000/year.
Research is concentrated on the following areas:
Diabetes type II – comprising metabolic aspects, twin register research, multiple therapeutic intervention

Gestational diabetes – follow-up with functional tests, epidemiological data

Islet transplantation programme – a setup with donor organs from an area comprising about 3 mio people, local setup of isolation facilities

Data registration – The Funen Diabetes Database, which will assess the quality of treatment in the area and provide hard data on the effect of new implementations