New Professor of Clinical and Translational Proteomics

By Tomas Homburg, thomburg@health.sdu.dk, 10/21/2024

Hans Christian Beck's work is to develop methods for analyzing proteins using mass spectrometry, with the aim of finding new and better biomarkers that can not only be used to diagnose diseases but can also help to find the people who are at risk of developing diseases. In particular, he focuses on biomarkers for diseases related to outpouchings on the main artery and other significant cardiovascular diseases.

Another focus is the development and application of diagnostic methods for the diagnosis of the rare disease amyloidosis, as well as methods for measuring residual disease in a blood sample from cancer patients affected by cancer of the bone marrow. The latter replaces a painful bone marrow sample and makes it possible to detect disease recurrence earlier than is otherwise possible.

In this connection, Hans Christian Beck works with several researchers from both Danish and foreign universities and hospitals – and participates in several international networks in connection with the diagnosis of amyloidosis and the monitoring of bone marrow cancer.

The development of new biomarkers is particularly relevant for the specialty of clinical biochemistry, as biomarkers play a central role in the diagnosis of a wide range of diseases.

Hans Christian Beck graduated with an MSc. in biotechnology from the University of Southern Denmark in 1995 and defended his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 2004. Since 2012, he has worked as a senior researcher at OUH, and in 2015 he became an associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark. He has extensive experience in mass spectrometry with a focus on protein analysis. He lives in Odense but is originally from the Ribe area in Southwest Jutland.