Henrietta Nielsen
Sweden
From assistant to associate professor: Career development by research into apolipoprotein E and neurodegeneration
173,840
01-01-2016
2.5
Alzheimer's disease & other dementias
The project leader will at the start of the project be employed as an assistant professor with financial support to create and lead an independent research team at the department of neurochemistry at Stockholm University. The proposed research in combination with teaching assignments including mentoring of PhD students and course work at the undergraduate and graduate levels will be corner stones in the career development for a promotion to a tenured position as associate professor at the same department. The scientific aim of the proposed project is to investigate the regulation and metabolism of apolipoprotein E and potential biological processes underlying the genetic risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer´s disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) linked to the APOE4 genotype. For these purposes primary human cell cultures and sophisticated animal models with pathology closely resembling the human disease will be used. Additional specific scientific expertise to support International grant applications, training and exchange of laboratory staff will be provided by collaborations with Dr. McLean at the Mayo Clinic in Florida (USA), Dr. Veerhuis at the VU University medical center in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Dr. Morgan at the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom). During the course of the project the project leader will in addition to tasks involving teaching and research also focus on career development by taking courses to further her career as an academic leader. Successful completion of the project will lead to improved understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying the risk of disease in APOE4 carriers and establishment of the project leader as a competitive independent research leader.