Scott Heller- Who am I and what do I do?

My name is Scott Heller and I am a research Scientist, musician (barely), and writer. I divorced and have one child who lives with me most of the time (Clotho Heller). We live in Copenhagen Denmark, one of the nicest cities on the planet. I did my original education at New Mexcio State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I did my bachelor's degree in Biolgoy but also received minors in Chemistry and Psychology. Afterwards I stayed and did research with Dr. Ceil Herman, who is now retired and runs an excellent theatre in Las Cruces called the Black Box Theater. I received my masters degree in Dec 1987 in Physiology. Afterwards, I went and did my PhD at the University of California at Berkeley in the Department of Nutritional Sciences with Dr. Greg Aponte. This was a fantastic 5½ years of my life. After I received my PhD in Endocrinology I went off to the Harvard Medical School in Boston, where I spent 3½ years working in Dr. Joel Habener's Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology. In June 1997, I moved to Denmark and began work in the Dept of Developmental Biology at the Hagedorn Research Institute. THis is where I hope to work for the rest of my life. It is a dynamic and stimulating place to work. My research is funded by Novo Nordisk as well as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in New York. I am currently working on a very interesting model for human type II diabetes, a gerbil called psammomys obesus. We are trying to eludicate the mechanism by which Liraglutide (a Novo Nordisk GLP-1 analog) can cure type II diabetes in these animals.

 

Other than work, I have been heavily involved in a lot of music journalism. Back in 1984, I started my own heay metal fanzine called Metal Madness. I produced 13 issues running up to 1988, when I started my PhD. Since the beginning of Aural Innovations, I have been a contributor to this fantastic on line music magazine and resource for everything having to do with space rock, experimental and non-mainstream music. Here in Denmark, I write for the on line ROCK magazine, Lowcut. In Germany, I have recently started contributing to the fantastic magazine called Moonhead. I have also contributed articles and interviews for various other places as well. Music and writing continue to be a passion for me. In addition, together with my friends Henrik from On Trial and Ralph, a fantastic booker and friend, we started Burnt Hippie Recordings, a record label. Sadly, the record label is no more but we did release 6 excellent releases by On Trial, Dark Sun, Gas Giant, WE, Korai Öröm and a compilation CD (Copenhagen Space Rock Festival 2002- It never happened).

 

I began to play synthesizer (Nord Lead 2) back in later 1998 with encouragement from my good friend Magnus and his band, Mantric Muse. We jammed a lot for about a year before I quit. In 1999, I became involved with helping the band Gas Giant and we developed into great friends. In January 2000, I contributed a little synthesizer to the song Firetripper on the excellent vinyl record, Riding the Red Horse to the Last Stronghold of the Freaks, a incredible split LP with Gas Giant and WE, from Oslo. In 2001, I began playing live with Gas Giant, some of the nicest and coolest people I have ever met. I played with the band until the summer of 2003 and we were fortunate enough to get to travel all around Europe and play concerts in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Recently, I have started a project called the Øresund Space Collective. This is a joining of musicians from Denmark and Sweden (Malmö) for free form space rock jam sessions. It includes members of Mantric Muse, Bland Bladen, Carpet Knights and Gas Giant. We have released one studio CD and several CD-rs of the best of our jam sessions and are currently mixing our new double CD called, It's all about Delay. In addition, I have become very good friends with people in bands in Finland (Dark Sun) and Norway (WE). I travel there at least once a year to hang out and hear music...

 

I am also a large music collector with over 1300 Lps, 5800 cassette tapes and 5000 CDs. I have been trading music for more than 25 years now. Take a look at the music catalog.