Two large research efforts focus on increasing our knowledge of the brain and how it works. The purpose is to develop new and better diagnostic and treatment methods, for example for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and Schizophrenia.
The Stockholm Brain Institute (SBI) is a strong research environment. Researchers at SBI study neurobiological processes that steer the brain’s cognitive functions, such as learning, memory and attention. Illnesses like Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as neurological development disorders in children, are caused by disturbances in these functions.
Ten research groups from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm University, and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm are going to attempt to understand the human brain. This means understanding the connections between the brain’s structure, its cognitive functions and human behaviour. “We are interested in the cognitive functions, that is, the brain’s higher functions such as memory, the carrying out of different tasks, and being aware of one’s self. We want to better understand how the brain develops and how the brain is affected by disease. This knowledge will help us to anticipate how illnesses develop, and provide better treatment of illnesses such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dementia, and Schizophrenia,” explains Hans Forssberg, Director of SBI and Professor of Basal and Clinical Neuroscience.
Interdisciplinary research
SBI is an interdisciplinary effort involving psychology, psychiatry, genetics, molecular biology, neurophysiology and modern media reproduction techniques. SBI’s use of mathematical modelling and computer simulations is unique. “The advantage of SBI is that our work integrates several different scientific fields that are needed to understand brain function in all its complexity,” says Hans Forssberg.
SBI also collaborates with a number of private companies. They are establishing a world-leading Positron Emissions Tomography (PET) centre together with AstraZeneca. PET is a reproduction technique that makes it possible for researchers to look inside a living brain and analyze signal molecules involved in contact between nerve cells. Knowledge about these signals is very important for understanding how the brain works.
The super computer Blue Gene is another important methodological platform, which SBI has gained access to through collaboration with IBM. Blue Gene will be used for mathematical modelling and simulations. “Access to a super computer is decisive for enabling fast and quality analyses of the research data and pictures produced at the PET centre. The combination of such enormous computing capacity and the PET centre is unique in the world,” explains Hans Forssberg.
