Marie Backe has a background as a molecular biologist from University of Copenhagen, and has through her thesis, Ph.D. and postdoc engaged herself in diabetes research. More specifically, she has worked on how a specific group of enzymes affects the pancreas 'insulin-producing cells' ability to survive and produce insulin, when exposed to inflammatory signaling molecules that induce cell death. To investigate this, she has worked with cell lines, mice as well as human tissues, and has experience with a wide range of molecular biological methods.

Marie moved to Greenland in 2018, where she was hired as a special consultant to facilitate the collaboration between Naalakkersuitut and the Novo Nordisk Foundation in the establishment of Steno Diabetes Center Greenland. Marie has thus been involved in preparing the Steno Diabetes Center Greenland by collecting and processing knowledge and experiences from Greenlandic health professionals and researchers from both Greenland and Denmark. This work was approved in the spring of 2020, so that Steno Diabetes Center Greenland became a reality on 1 July 2020. Marie has thus since 1 July 2020 been employed as a research coordinator in Steno Diabetes Center Greenland, where she in addition to coordinating research and preparing a research strategy for the center, supervises medical students in respect to their master theses.

Research centre

Greenland Center for Health Research