A researcher with patents and a newly founded company for his credit
Mads Kjølby
Mads Fuglsang Kjølby is only 38, but he has already achieved some admirable research goals. Together with colleagues, he has taken out patents on three of their inventions; and with five others, he has founded the company InsuSense Aps. All this whilst working at the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University.
The purpose of InsuSense is to develop and perfect new medicines to treat diabetes and obesity from a commercial standpoint – and with a licence from Aarhus University. Expectations are high: “We’re talking about a massive market with potentially 400 million patients around the globe”, Christian E. Elling, CEO of InsuSense, remarked in an interview with Børsen, a Danish business newspaper.
”Where almost all pharmacological treatment options in type 2 diabetes work by increasing insulin levels, either by stimulating secretion from pancreas or by replacement, this targets the problem insulin resistance. Our gene - SorCS1 works by increasing insulin sensitivity in mice and cells and may thus offer a novel treatment option for patients with type 2 diabetes”, Mads Fuglsang Kjølby says.
One research finding —multiple potential applications
The company—and the results which gave rise to it—came from the group’s work on the sortilins and their significance in the development of cardiac disease. The findings were patented (application) in 2008 and sold to H. Lundbeck in 2009.
Later, their research took several directions, as many of the results were applicable in other areas. In 2010, the group discovered to their amazement that the proteins are significant in the development of type 2 diabetes. One connection was demonstrated in vivo, showing that the SorCS1 gene has a direct effect on the number of insulin receptors in the organism. This led on to the discovery that, by adding a small fragment of the SorCS1 receptor exogenously, an increased number of insulin receptors were traceable. “In other words, SorCS1 is a new mechanism that can be used to develop drugs for people who lack insulin, such as patients with type 2 diabetes “, says Mads.
An early start in research
Mads has come far, but this is due in part to an early start on his research career, almost directly after he began to study medicine. “I trawled the internet and found opportunities at the University of Southern Denmark for early research. Then I contacted Professor Peter Bie”, says Mads. His explanation is quite simply that he found research extremely interesting; perhaps the fact that his elder sister, a dentist, was a researcher also inspired him.
His interest in diabetes is basically from their serendipity finding that SorCS1 can increase insulin sensitivity in tissue without acting as insulin itself.
”The mechanisms governing insulin sensitivity are for the most part unknown. Diabetes is a potential debilitating disease of great impact for the individual. Even though many treatment options are available, we still need constant improvement for managing diabetes in our therapeutic arsenal. Many diabetics still suffer from late complications of diabetes, such as neuropathy, retinopathy, increased atherosclerosis and following increased risk of stroke and acute myocardial infarction. My interest in diabetes is also personal as a close family member suffers from type 2 diabetes and the late complication, neuropathy”, he explains.
The exciting paths of entrepreneurship and research have come about without Mads having to live his life in laboratories. He reads, takes part in CrossFit activities in the woods with friends and enjoys leisure time with his three children and Birgitte, also a researcher and now a teacher at Aarhus Katedralskole, a general upper secondary school.
