Knocking on death's door

Hidden far away from the entrance door to the national university hospital Rigshospitalet, is the Institute of Forensic Medicine. Investigating gruesome, horrific, and prolonged deaths, the Institute plays a role in determining the cause of murders and a host of other cases, such as people who have died from work-related illness, accident victims, drug addicts and alcoholics. Overall, the Institute conducts approximately 650 autopsies annually.

Health Faculty: We messed up, but no harm was done

Director of the Faculty of Health Sciences Arnold Boon now admits mistakes in his rendering of what happened in connection with the appearance of Milena Penkowa's freezer.

The chest freezer, which suddenly appeared last week, may, or may not, include key evidence in the ongoing investigation. It's appearance came after assurances that all Penkowa's research material was fully accounted for.

Faculty: Penkowa's research is safe

The Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen (UCPH) rejects Milena Penkowas accusations that it has not safeguarded her research archive. This is in spite of the fact that an unrecorded chest freezer has emerged.

The neuroscientist was accused of scientific misconduct in 2010 and resigned her professorship after results from her experiments could not be replicated. Her collected data, samples and research are at the heart of the case against her. She maintains her innocence.

Chinese centre to analyze Danish DNA

A Chinese research institute opened its first European centre in Copenhagen on the 10 February. This was in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, Aarhus University and Aalborg University. All parties hope that the new centre will improve, research and investment relations between the two countries.

Photo story: Out on the farm

Top scientist Haja Kadarmideen had taken the University Post and two PhD students from his own department along to the University of Copenhagen’s experimental farm in Tåstrup. The staff out there welcomed our spontaneous visit and gave us a tour of the animals and stables.

»These are the F1s and these are the F2s,« explained one of them, as he pointed to the pigs, before launching into a technical explanation that the University Post did not, quite, grasp.

Follow the photo story here.

Research farm, hospital

Australian scientist gets DKK 19m for obesity work

In the midst of economic gloom and hard times for science funding, one scientist has stood out and apparently found the winning formula.

India-born Australian Haja Kadarmideen of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences has only been in Copenhagen for one year, but he has already hauled in a solid lump of cash for three different genomics and systems biology projects.

Scientists hunt for elusive obesity genes

In Hermann Melville’s 19th century novel, the main character sails the world’s oceans to hunt down one particular, enigmatic, whale named Moby Dick.

In one way, India-born Australian scientist Haja Kadarmideen’s take on genetics is a bit like this.

»The genome is so long. Finding the right gene for a disease is like finding a fish in the ocean. Often you know a little bit about where in the ocean the fish are, but often not,« he explains to the University Post.

Gene variation is the clue

Photo story: Down in the animal laboratories

Our photographer took a guided tour of the animal pens and stables at Panum buildings, where we could find mice, rats, frogs, chickens, cats, rabbits, ferrets and pigs.

Professor Jann Hau, head of the Department of Experimental Medicine, is responsible for the welfare of the thousands of animals. There will always be ethical problems associated with the use of live animals for scientific experiments, but the department does everything possible for animal welfare, he says.

Newsroom's choice: Penkowa for dummies

It has dead mothers suddenly turning up at receptions, powerful men enchanted by charming women, forged documents, raids by plain-clothed fraud detectives, spin doctors, and a student assistant that cried for help, but was not heard.

If not the biggest case of scientific fraud in world history, it is probably the most complicated one. It has shaken the University of Copenhagen, has made university politics an issue in the upcoming Danish national election, and has had staff and students clicking the refresh button on their preferred media sites for months on end.