OUR FOUNDATION

Since the early 1980s, the Medical Research Laboratory at Aarhus University has specialized in the minute natural fuel metabolites lactate and ketones that are inextricably linked to immediate oxidation in the life-defining Krebs cycle. This work is built upon a direct lineage of discovery originating from a longstanding collaboration with Professor Sir George Alberti, a pupil of Nobel Laureate Sir Hans Adolf Krebs. Over four decades, the university has published approximately 100 papers on lactate and ketone metabolism, with recent clinical human studies reporting strikingly beneficial effects on appetite regulation, the heart, brain, and muscles. These results were historically achieved using these compounds in isolation.

In 2017, a unique interdisciplinary team was formed, bringing together Niels Møller, MD (Chair of the University M-Lab), Mogens Johannsen, PhD (Vice-head of the Institute of Forensic Chemistry), and Thomas B. Poulsen, PhD (Head of the Chemical Biology Research Group). Their combined expertise led to a singular proposition: the creation of a distinct molecular structure embedding both lactate and ketones to allow close mimicry of the natural, healthy physiological responses to exercise and food restriction.

These dual-action esters were patented by Aarhus University in 2020 and 2022, with Mmimetika Biosciences holding the exclusive global use rights to this breakthrough in metabolic signaling.

Publications

• doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa370. PMID: 32525972

• doi: 10.1161/JAHA.116.005066

• doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.036459

• doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy170. PMID: 30239561

• doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2021.12.032. Epub 2021 Dec 24. PMID: 35016146

• doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.10.007

• doi: 10.1016/0026-0495(90)90189-j