What is your field of research in Lifebrain?
I am involved in Lifebrain mainly through the Betula cohort. The Betula project is to examine how memory and cognition changes both in adulthood, in aging and later when we transit to dementia. And we relate that to various factors such as lifestyle factors, genetic factors, and brain imaging variables with a goal to understand why some preserve their memory and cognition, and why others have certain problems even quite early in life.
The Cobra cohort could be included in Lifebrain, too, we are still not sure about it. That has similar goals, but with the focus on getting additional information on the dopamine system. One of the hypothesis we have been working on for many years is that age related decline in dopamine neurotransmission is one of the many factors that contribute to age-related cognitive decline.
How have you become a brain researcher?
During my PhD studies I did some experimental work on memory (That was when we actually started our first studies on Betula). And then I got some preprints from colleagues in Toronto who just started to use positron emission tomography (PET) to map brain regions that are involved when we encode information to memory and later on when we try to retrieve that information. And they had found that different parts of the frontal cortex are engaged during memory encoding vs. memory retrieval. So I thought that was really cool and interesting, and opened up sort of a new field. That was in the early 1990-ies. So I applied to the Swedish Research Council for a grant to Toronto and started to work with these techniques to bring together memory research and brain research. And that was really a good move, I think.
How did you get involved in Lifebrain?
It was through my engagement as a visiting scientist at the University of Oslo. Kristine Walhovd, Anders Fjell and myself were discussing potential project ideas for an EU funded project. We applied some years ago, but we did not get it for the first time. So we have expanded both the original idea and the consortium, then we finally succeeded with Lifebrain.
What do you find most interesting in Lifebrain?
It is nice to pool resources together. It provides us with the potential to do more discoveries. But mainly the vast expertise that is brought together by the Lifebrain partners is what actually matters the most. Hopefully the project would result in new methods and approaches, that we can apply in many studies.
What is the most burning scientific question in your opinion in our times (in your field of brain research?)
The global trend towards an aging population is definitely a pressing problem. I think the most important now is to study and find ways of promoting brain maintenance, to help as many as possible to brain and cognitive integrity in aging, so that they can live an independent life.
What do you do for your brain health? What can people do for their brain health?
Working on research is a good thing actually. Profession is one of the factors we believe is influencing brain health. It is good if you can have a profession that is sort of dynamic and gives you different challenges. Then of course, social factors contribute, too: to have a family and friends, to have some physical activity going on a regular basis-starting quite early in life, and maintaining that regularly, is definitely a key factor. And try to have fun!
