Danish Cancer Institute

Danish Cancer Institute (DCI) is an international research institute within Denmark´s largest non-governmental organization, the Danish Cancer Society. In DCI we are dedicated to pioneering cancer breakthroughs by innovative research of the highest excellence in an open environment that fosters interdisciplinarity and collaboration. It is in our DNA to focus our research on real-life problems by striving to reduce the risk of cancer, contribute to refined possibilities for early diagnostics and treatment and to improve the life of cancer patients.

DCI is an international and multidisciplinary research environment with more than 250 researchers, students and technical personnel coming from 26 different countries and an annual research production of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications. We aim to deliver cutting-edge research through synergy and strategic partnerships and have ambitious standards for career development and scientific outreach.

Meet our director

The institute is headed by professor Mads Melbye

Cross-disciplinary research

DCI was founded based on strong research in basic biology and epidemiology. Today, these research directions have merged into a cross-collaborative cancer research center with an interdisciplinary and international research agenda. This way, research at the DCI spans from molecular and cell based research to population-based research using real world data. We have modern laboratories, with a large variety of instruments covering many omics areas and an extensive in-house microscopy facility. We also hold the one-of-its-kind cohort ‘Diet, Cancer and Health’ with biological samples from around 57,000 Danes – as well as from their children and grandchildren.
Our award-winning researchers have expertise in several areas including:
•    basic biology approaches to genomic integrity and repair, cell division, lysosome biology, and autophagy
•    epidemiologic approaches to cancer risk and survival taking advantage of the high quality of nationwide registries (real world data)
•    translational approaches to precision medicine and drug repurposing
•    clinical interventions related to survivorship perspectives

Strategy and focus areas

Our strategy describes our focus areas and the prioritized actions towards realizing our mission of impactful cancer research. Our way ahead defines four signature initiatives: Impactful cancer research, translational ambitions and potential, a preferred environment for research training and partnering with patients and society.

To all our donors – thank you for your contributions and for being part of this important work.