Franziska Albrecht
Assistant Professor
E-mail: franziska.albrecht@ki.se
Telephone: +46852488816
Visiting address: Alfred Nobels Allé 23, 14183 Huddinge
Postal address: H1 Neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, H1 Fysioterapi Franzen, 171 77 Stockholm
About me
Career
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- since 2023 Assistant Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Division of Physiotherapy, Franzén group &
- Affiliated to Theme Women’s Health and Allied Health Professionals, Medical unit Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Karolinska University Hospital
- 2019-2023 Postdoc, Karolinska Institutet, Division of Physiotherapy, Franzén group &
- Affiliated to Theme Women’s Health and Allied Health Professionals, Medical unit Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Karolinska University Hospital
- 2016-2019 PhD Student, Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Research Group Cognitive Neuropsychiatry &
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity (IMPRS NeuroCom)
- 2013-2016 Research Assistant, Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, CRC 1052 Obesity Mechanisms
Academic Education -
- 2013-2015 Master of Science, Neurobiology and Behavior, University of Leipzig
- 2010-2013 Bachelor of Science, Biology, Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
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Merits
- Part of the Karolinska Institute’s South Distinguished Lecture series committee
- Pedagogical Ambassador in Doctoral Education at Karolinska Institutet, 2024
Research
- For my research, I have applied data-driven methods ranging from meta-analyses, voxel-based morphometry, and machine learning to graph theory to investigate disease-specific neural correlates of neurodegenerative diseases as well as predict such syndromes individually.
During my Ph.D. work, I conducted quantitative and systematic meta-analyses on neuroimaging data to identify disease-specific patterns that can disentangle clinically hard distinguishable Parkinsonian syndromes. Further, I worked on multi-centric neuroimaging data from the German Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Research Consortium. I used supervised machine learning to discriminate clinical syndrome and unique symptoms in single patients.
As a postdoc, I worked on neuroimaging and behavioral analyses of a large randomized controlled trial that compared a highly challenging balance and gait training with an intense speech and voice training in people with Parkinson’s disease. I applied multi-level analyses, voxel-based morphometry, effective functional connectivity analyses, and structural covariance networks to investigate behavioral and brain changes. Taking a step towards personalized medicine, I used the aforementioned multi-modal dataset of neuroimaging, clinical, motor, and cognitive variables to identify Parkinson’s disease subtypes using unsupervised machine learning.
Teaching
- Besides my research work, I am very passionate about and active in education at Karolinska Institutet. Since 2021, together with a colleague, I have been organizing a monthly journal club for the Ph.D. students at the Division of Physiotherapy. Further, I have experience in giving lectures, IT hands-on practices, seminars, and exam grading in several doctoral courses. Since 2021, I have been part of a systematic review course where I have held lectures, done seminar supervision, and proofread/ graded assignments. I am further part of the bi-annually structural MRI course where I facilitate lectures and IT hands-on practices with doctoral students. Here, I have held lectures and prepared as well as led the hands-on practice workshops using MRI analysis software. Additionally, I hold a lecture within the doctoral education module ’Neurodegenerative Disorders I - From Molecule to Treatment’, about the rehabilitation of balance and gait in Parkinson’s disease, yearly since 2021. Further, I also give lectures in Swedish. In a free-standing course, I gave a lecture about neuroimaging and neurodegenerative diseases (‘Introducerande kurs i diagnostik, behandling och forskning kring människans sjukdomar’).
I was awarded the ’Pedagogical Ambassador in Doctoral Education’ at Karolinska Institutet grant for 2024.
Selected publications
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Article: PARKINSONISM & RELATED DISORDERS. 2022;102:19-29
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Article: NPJ PARKINSONS DISEASE. 2022;8(1):12
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Article: FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE. 2022;14:870998
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Article: JOURNAL OF PARKINSONS DISEASE. 2021;11(4):2057-2071
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Article: CORTEX. 2019;117:33-40
Articles
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Article: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 2024;14(1):9513
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Article: NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS. 2024;158:105450
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Article: JOURNAL OF PARKINSONS DISEASE. 2023;13(3):367-378
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Article: BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR. 2023;13(4):e2948
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Article: NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL. 2023;37:103320
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Article: JOURNAL OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. 2021;15(1):88-111
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Article: ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY. 2020;88(6):1118-1131
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Article: FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE. 2020;12:133
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Article: NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL. 2020;25:102112
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Article: NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. 2019;33(3):391-405
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Article: NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL. 2019;21:101594
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Article: NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL. 2019;22:101722
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Article: NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL. 2019;21:101636
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Article: NEUROLOGY. 2018;91(15):e1390-e1401
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Article: FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE. 2018;10:45
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Journal article: CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY. 2017;128(10):e318-e319
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Article: NPJ PARKINSONS DISEASE. 2017;3:12
All other publications
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Preprint: RESEARCH SQUARE. 2024
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Review: NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS. 2020;113:308-324
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Preprint: SSRN ELECTRONIC JOURNAL. 2018
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Conference publication: JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY. 2016;138:362-363
Grants
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Swedish Research Council1 January 2023 - 31 December 2026