About the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunity

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunity (NCVI) is a mission-driven academic research center, anchored at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen. The primary focus of the center is the development of new or improved vaccine candidates against infectious respiratory diseases including tuberculosis, influenza and Group A Streptococcus. NCVI aims to achieve this by gaining an enhanced understanding of airway immunity and incorporating innovations in vaccine technologies and delivery methods.

As the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted, progress and innovation in the vaccine development field holds great promise. However, we still face many scientific hurdles that limit the development of effective vaccines that can rapidly induce broad and long-lasting immunity, particularly against airborne viruses and bacteria. NCVI is developing an integrated basic and translational research program that aims to fill many of these remaining knowledge gaps and to harness this knowledge to develop more effective vaccines.

NCVI is an integral part of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Initiative for Vaccines and Immunity (NIVI) and is responsible for the research, discovery, and educational components of the initiative. A key partner in the center and the initiative is Statens Serum Institut.

NIVI is a public-private partnership and actively seeks to collaborate globally with world-leading research teams and experts who share NIVI’s ambitions. The initiative consolidates existing expertise in immunology and vaccine development in Denmark, helping ensure the country is at the very forefront of translational vaccine science.