From assistant to associate professor: Career development by research into apolipoprotein E and neurodegeneration

Purpose and goal

The project aimed to promote the career development to support a promotion of the project leader from assistant processor to tenured associate professor at Stockholm University through studies of the genetic risk factor APOE4, a strong risk factor for the development of Alzheimer´s disease. The project leader has during the grant period successfully built an internationally competitive research laboratory, performed teaching in the subject neurochemistry and thereby earned merits to earn the title as reader and an associate professor during the coming year 2019.

Expected results and effects

The project results have exceeded the expected outcome through successful grant applications, international collaborations which have been promoted by the mobility of the project leader and several scientific publications. The project leader has repeatedly been invited to lecture at large international conferences and has accepted the assignment as journal editor for yet another scientific journal. The outcome together are expected to contribute to a successful acquisition of the titles reader and associate professor during the spring of 2019.

Planned approach and implementation

The project plan in retrospect was very successful however execution was complicated by difficulties to recruit adequate postdoctoral expertise alongside employment policies at Stockholm University which prevented the continued employment of a staff scientist. The latter resulted in the decline of a US-based grant of 175 000 USD. The lack of in vivo and mass-spec infrastructure resulted in omitting some parts of the project which however did not negatively impact the career development of the project leader.