I have a background as a medical doctor from the St Johns Medical College in Bangalore, India. All through medical college and my internship I have wanted to do research into the medical problems which plague our modern society, so that I can do the most good and help more people.
I moved to Denmark to work with Professor Oluf Pedersen at the Steno Diabetes Centre on a short-term project in diabetes genetics. When I heard about the Industrial PhD programme at Novo Nordisk, I realised that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to pursue my interests in both the pharmaceutical industry and more applied diabetes research. As a medical doctor, it is very important for me to know that my research can impact directly on the development of better treatments for people with diabetes.
I still remember the feeling I had when my STAR fellowship application was approved by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation. It was simply thrilling to have this opportunity to pursue my research interests in diabetes while also working at Novo Nordisk and learning firsthand how pharmaceutical drug development works.
My PhD project is on regenerative medicine - specifically the regeneration of beta cells in the pancreas. The Industrial PhD programme is designed so that you split your time between industry and academia so my work is being supervised by Senior Scientist Scott Heller at Novo Nordisk and Professor Jens H Nielsen at Copenhagen University.
Currently there is a lot of buzz about beta cell regeneration. One of the important features of diabetes is the reduction in the number of beta cells (which produce insulin) and we believe that by introducing the right factors we could stimulate these cells to regenerate, thus reducing or removing the need for daily insulin injections for people with diabetes.
So this is where I currently am - in the second year of my PhD, in cold Denmark (at least cold for a boy from the tropics!) pursuing both a PhD and a way to improve the lives of millions of people who are suffering from diabetes. And believe me when I tell you this is the best time I have ever had.
Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, Chief Science Officer at Novo Nordisk, talks about the need to attract the best scientific talent from around the world.