Published
2014-12-17Kaj Blennow is Professor and Head of Research at the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and Head of the Neurochemistry Laboratory at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Blennow has made great progress in Alzheimer's research. The biomarkers developed by Kaj Blennow's laboratory are now used worldwide.
Alzheimer's is one of the biggest diseases of our time and causes the most common form of dementia. It is important to detect the disease in time to start treatment before the brain changes become too severe. Kaj Blennow's research has focused on methods of analyzing Alzheimer's, mainly through biomarkers that can show that there has been a clumping of proteins in the brain. The clumping leads to disturbed nerve cell function and a withering of the nerve cells and their synapses, and is the background mechanism for Alzheimer's.
The analytical method is known as T-tau, P-tau and Aβ-42, and has been widely used internationally.
The biomarkers can also be used to identify the biochemical effect of new drugs and to study Alzheimer's disease mechanisms directly in patients. The aim of the project and the research chair is to develop highly sensitive biomarkers for the central disease mechanisms in Alzheimer's. It is hoped that in the future it will be possible to develop the method to such an extent that blood tests for Alzheimer's will become a reality.
- "It's great to be selected for this prestigious professorship. It is also important that clinically based biochemical research is recognized, as it has been shown to be the basis for understanding how Alzheimer's occurs. My ambition with the professorship is to develop a complete panel of biochemical tests that can be used both for early diagnosis and to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular disease mechanisms in Alzheimer's and thereby the possibility to develop optimal therapies, says Kaj Blennow.
Kaj Blennow received his PhD in 1990 from the University of Gothenburg. He then specialized in clinical chemistry and since 2003 he is Professor of Clinical Neurochemistry and Head of Research at the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. He is also head of the Neurochemistry Laboratory at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Dr. Blennow is an active lecturer worldwide and his research team publishes between 40 and 60 scientific papers each year.