Hans Forssberg, MD, PhD

Professor, MD, PhD Hans Forssberg

E-mail:

Neurodevelopmental disorders

Research focus

The focus is on the development of cognitive and motor functions in healthy individuals and in various neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, ADHD, DCD, autism spectrum disorder and language impairment. The research is translational using several longitudinal and clinical cohorts, as well as various animal models. The overall goal is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive and motor dysfunctions in order to develop new principles for prevention and intervention.

Key topics

  • Aetiology:

Studies on the GxE interaction influencing motor and cognitive functions, in particular how some early environmental factors such as stress and gut microbiota influences brain development and behaviour later in life.

  • Biomarkers:

Develop biomarkers and assessment tools in order to early detect and later follow the disease process or effect of interventions.

  • Intervention:

Develop new principles for motor and cognitive training and understand the underlying mechanisms.

Commissions of trust

Director, Stockholm Brain Institute

Coordinator, Strategic Research Programme in Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet

Chairman, Centre of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet

Chairman, European Academy of Childhood Disability

Recent publications

Diaz Heijtz RD, Wang S, Anuar F, Qian Y, Björkholm B, Samuelsson A, Hibberd ML, Forssberg H, Pettersson S.

Normal gut microbiota modulates brain development and behavior.

Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2011 Feb 15;108(7):3047-52

Lindberg PG, Gäverth J, Islam M, Fagergren A, Borg J, Forssberg H.

Validation of a new biomechanical model to measure muscle tone in spastic muscles.

Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2011 Sep;25(7):617-25

Karabanov A, Cervenka S, de Manzano O, Forssberg H, Farde L, Ullén F.

Dopamine D2 receptor density in the limbic striatum is related to implicit but not explicit movement sequence learning.

Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2010 Apr 20;107(16)7574-9

Evidence of validity in a new method to measure dexterity in children and adolescents.

Dev Med Child Neurol 2010 May 24

McNab F, Varrone A, Farde L, Jucaite A, Bystritsky P, Forssberg H, Klingberg T

Changes in cortical dopamine D1 receptor binding associated with cognitive training.

Science 2009 Feb 6;323(5915):800-2

Last modified by: Astrid Häggblad 2012-04-23