Center for Chromosome Stability

The Center for Chromosome Stability (CCS) was established in March 2015 through a generous grant of 65 Mio. DKK (approx. 8.5 Mio Euro) from the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) as part of their Centers of Excellence programme. This grant was to cover an initial funding period of 6 years. Following a successful mid-term evaluation, the DNRF confirmed that the CCS would be supported for a second funding period (with an additional 45 Mio DKK) running until May 31^st, 2025.

The CCS is based in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Panum Institute, and has strong connections to the Nordea Center for Healthy Aging, the Department of Biology and the NNF Center for Protein Research, where two of the Center’s PIs are based.

The mission of the CCS is to conduct basic research in order to understand in mechanistic detail how cells minimize damage that can generate chromosomal instability. More specifically, the main focus is on regions of eukaryotic genomes that, due to their structure, are intrinsically unstable. These regions, which we term ‘the enemies within’, include chromosomal fragile sites, repeated DNA sequences and telomeres. An important longer-term aim is to understand how genome instability triggers age-associated disorders in humans, including cancer, neurodegeneration and impaired fertility. The different teams possess complementary expertise in genetics, biochemistry and molecular/cell biology.