About us

New CEO at Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S

Oct 19, 2022

We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Martin Windfeld Velin as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S. Martin W. Velin recently served as COO at Ellegard Göttingen Minipigs.

Martin W. Velin will leverage his experience to guide Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs through its next ambitious phase of growth and at the same time maintain a strong focus on not only securing the global supply of Göttingen Minipigs, but also expanding our research services including in-house Göttingen Minipigs preclinical studies, access to biological material, and the development and commercialization of genetically altered Göttingen Minipigs – all with a strong focus on employee and customer satisfaction.

Jens Ellegaard, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S: “I am very delighted that Martin will be our new CEO. He has impressed the Board with his professional attitude as well as his personality but also the impact he has made since his arrival in September 2021 has been notable. The Board believes he is a great fit with the right combination of skills and international experience to lead Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs through its next strategic phase”. 
 

A humanized minipig model for the toxicological testing of therapeutic recombinant antibodies

Sep 27, 2022

We are very excited to introduce the humanized IgG Göttingen Minipigs, a genetically altered Göttingen Minipigs strain carrying a mini repertoire of human genes for the immunoglobulin heavy chains γ1 and γ4 and the immunoglobulin light chain κ. The humanized Göttingen Minipigs are now available at Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S.

Humanized IgG Göttingen Minipigs show tolerance to a broad range of human or humanized antibodies and provide a novel model for toxicological testing of therapeutic antibodies. 

Testing of human therapeutic antibodies can be challenging in vivo due to xeno responses, resulting in rapid clearance or toxicity. Humanized IgG Göttingen Minipigs are a new large animal model with the ability to predict adverse outcomes of therapeutic antibodies (true anti-drug antibody reactions). “The humanized IgG Göttingen Minipigs can enhance preclinical safety predictions for this important class of drugs,” says Kirsten Rosenmay Jacobsen, CSO at Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S.  

Please contact Peter Vestbjerg, Head of International Sales, pve@minipigs.dk, if you are interested to learn more about the genetically altered minipig model.

Read the full paper here: A humanized minipig model for the toxicological testing of therapeutic recombinant antibodies

The 14th MRF meeting was held in Dalmose, Denmark

Jun 14, 2022

This year, the MRF 2022 was held at the breeding and research facilities in Dalmose, Denmark. 

22 inspiring speakers presented recent scientific results and shared knowledge and experiences on the topics:

• Nutrition and Metabolism
• Juvenile and Reproductive Toxicology
• Pharmacological Models
• Immune System
• Pain Models and Management

The participants could choose from one of these breakout sessions:

• Dosing and Sampling 
• Training and Monitoring Welfare 

The conference was kicked off by a welcome lecture entitled 'Developing clinically relevant models of self-poisoning in Göttingen Minipigs at the Edinburgh Large Animal Facility'. 

We would like to thank our generous sponsors for supporting this year’s MRF meeting and we look forward to hosting the 15th Minipig Research Forum in Lisbon, Portugal, from 10 to 12 May 2023.

Join the 14th Minipig Research Forum in Dalmose, Denmark

Mar 28, 2022

Join the long-awaited MRF 2022 offering Göttingen Minipigs users the unique opportunity to meet, discuss and share knowledge and experiences on minipig care, handling and use within various areas of biomedical research. The 3-day scientific conference is packed with scientific lectures, breakout sessions and not least great networking with Göttingen Minipigs users from all over the world!

To become a member and to register for the MRF 2022, please apply for (free) membership here:
Become a member (minipigresearchforum.org)

Registration fee for the MRF 2002 is €350. See the invitation including the full scientific program here.

Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S to establish Research Facility in North America

Mar 21, 2022

Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S is the leading breeder and supplier of Göttingen Minipigs for biomedical research and in addition offers various biomedical research services at our Research Facility in Denmark.

We are pleased to announce our plans to establish a US based Research Facility on the East Coast with the aim of providing a variety of research services, like access to ready-to-use Göttingen Minipigs by supplying pre-conditioned Göttingen Minipigs with pre-implanted catheters, vascular access ports and vascular access buttons or telemetry devices; access to animal model preparation by the development and characterization of diet or surgically induced animal models or exploration of your customized disease models; open lab access to our surgical suite and scientific procedures in your own Göttingen Minipigs; and not least the performance of exploratory pharmacology studies in close collaboration with us as your scientific partner.

Lars Friis Mikkelsen, CEO, Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S: “We believe that our planned research services at our US based Research Facility will support our customers’ Göttingen Minipigs based research and take it to the next level in a flexible and collaborative way, as already experienced by our customers at our Danish Research Facility. As such we look forward to expanding our services to facilitate the worldwide increased use of Göttingen Minipigs”.

Jens Ellegaard, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ellegaard Göttingen Minipigs A/S: “Since the foundation of our company, we have always strived to provide not only high quality Göttingen Minipigs, but also a high level of scientific support to our customers. With a Research Facility in North America, we look forward to being much closer to the American research community and to support the growing need for research services and knowledge sharing about the use of Göttingen Minipigs in biomedical research”.

Marshall Bioresources has for more than two decades supplied Göttingen Minipigs to users in North America and with these plans, we strengthen our strategic partnership and Marshall BioResources continue as the exclusive supplier of Göttingen Minipigs in North America.

Scott Marshall, CEO, Marshall BioResources says: “We believe that Ellegaard’s services will add significant value, making the minipigs more research-ready and allowing customers to focus their resources further up the value chain. Marshall’s efforts will remain focused on production and supply of animals to our customers, including the Ellegaard facility once established.“

For more information on Göttingen Minipigs and our research services, please contact us at ellegaard@minipigs.dk or CEO, Lars Friis Mikkelsen at lfm@minipigs.dk.