About the centre
Center for Discoveries in Migraine (CDM)
Center for Discoveries in Migraine (CDM) is a Research Center of Excellence funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF).
CDM is based at Rigshospitalet and anchored in the Department of Neurology at the Danish Headache Center. CDM opened September 1st 2025.
The Center for Discoveries in Migraine seeks to reveal the mechanisms that trigger and end migraine attacks through basic research. One goal is to develop new disease-specific treatments within the next 10 years.
CDM is built on strong international collaboration. The center brings together researchers from Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United States, and works closely with partners at Leiden University Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Copenhagen.
Research Focus and Approach
A central goal of CDM is to address this gap by identifying the processes that initiate and terminate migraine attacks and by using this knowledge to guide the development of more targeted treatments over the coming years.
An important part of the work is the close link between clinical research and experimental neuroscience.
The research at CDM spans basic neuroscience, translational work, and clinical studies. The approach is to combine laboratory experiments, advanced neuroimaging, and well-characterized clinical cohorts to better understand how signaling molecules, neuropeptides, and ion channels influence brain function in migraine. Particular attention is given to how neuronal excitability, migraine aura, sensory processing, and neuroinflammatory mechanisms interact.