I’ve never worked so hard and had so much fun

It all started in the beginning of 2023. Tina Kold Jensen is working in her office when the department’s analytical chemist Flemming Nielsen knocks on her door, wanting to show her something. 

- Take a look at this, he says, showing her the spreadsheets.  

Tina Kold Jensen can hardly believe her eyes when she sees the results of the blood tests from the PFAS-exposed citizens from Korsør who have been given cholesterol-lowering medicine.  

- It was crazy. You could clearly see that the PFAS values dropped from 400 to 199 in no time in the people who’d had treatment, but there was no change in the untreated people. It was easy to see, even though the samples were blinded, says Tina Kold Jensen. 

In a collaboration with Holbæk Hospital, she was conducting the world’s first clinical trial to investigate whether the cholesterol-lowering medicine Colestyramine can help the body excrete the so-called ‘forever’ chemical PFAS faster.  

The answer was clearly yes. She quickly passed this message on to their good partners at Holbæk Hospital, who passed it on to the concerned citizens from Korsør who had very high concentrations of PFAS in their blood after eating meat with high levels of PFAS.   

In depth with the PFAS questions 

But as is so often the case in research, promising results require further investigation. For that reason, the sensational blood test results were the start of a busy spring for Tina Kold Jensen.  

She quickly decided to pursue an ERC Advanced Grant to go into more depth with the PFAS questions.  

And then she began reaching out to her international research network for input to develop her research idea.  

- I’ve never worked so much on an application, and at the same time it was really fun. It was incredibly interesting to dive into all the literature on the subject and involve my many good colleagues and get their ideas on how to shape and hone the project. There was a real campaign atmosphere around my application, says Tina Kold Jensen.  

She also sees it as a huge advantage to be part of a large department that brings together clinical pharmacology, pharmacy and environmental medicine: here you have the competences to discuss and subsequently manage one of the very top-tier grants. She is looking forward to working with the entire department on the project.  

In the spring of 2023, Tina Kold Jensen spent every day working on her ERC application – and enjoying the process.  

- What I like most as a researcher is to get something new going, and I really enjoy writing with a broad audience in mind. It’s something I really get up on my soapbox about: Researchers should never be afraid of using plain language – it’s much better than talking over people’s heads. 

Six months later, Tina Kold Jensen had to attend the ERC exam, or more precisely a nerve-wracking online meeting where she had to present her research idea as clearly and precisely as possible in 10 minutes. And once again, her research network was worth its weight in gold, contributing to the interview preparation by commenting on where the presentation could be honed even more.  

Good news from the ERC 

And the rest is history. While on holiday in Australia in the spring of 2024, Tina Kold Jensen received a notification from the ERC that there was news about her case.  

And when she finally managed to access the system from the other side of the world, it was good news: The European Research Council had awarded her €2.5 million to investigate how PFAS affect our bodies and how we can effectively get them out of our bodies. 

What do you expect to get out of the grant? 

- Many important things. I expect we will find answers to who should be offered treatment to get PFAS out of the body and which treatment is best. But more importantly, the project will give us fundamental knowledge about how PFAS affect the liver and cholesterol metabolism. At the moment we don’t know when the harmful effects of PFAS occur in the bodies of highly exposed people – we need to figure that out, says Tina Kold, emphasising:  

- With this project, we can potentially reduce the exposure of the next generation to PFAS.    

And what is your best advice for others who want to succeed with the EU grants?    

- You have to be extremely well prepared and make sure to get input from all your colleagues who know something about the area. You should also be aware that ERC grants are very different from other types of EU grants, which focus on applied research and cross-national collaborations, she says and emphasises:  

- You can do anything you want if you work hard enough, because fortune favours the diligent.