Janina Neufeld

Janina Neufeld

Principal Researcher | Docent
Telephone: +46852482874
Visiting address: Gävlegatan 22B, plan 8, 11330 STOCKHOLM
Postal address: K6 Kvinnors och barns hälsa, K6 Neuropsykiatri Bölte Neufeld, 171 77 Stockholm
Part of:

About me

  • I studied Biology with a main focus on Neurobiology, conducting my PhD and
    postdoctoral studies in the field of Human Neuroscience. Methodologically my
    core interests are Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Eye-Tracking, Electromyography
    and Psychophysics.
    Currently, I am Assistant Professor (FoAss) at the Center of
    Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND [1]).
    Post-doctoral training 2014-2018, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
    at Karolinska Institutet (KIND) at the Department of Women's and
    Children's Health (KBH), K6
    Post-doctoral training 2012-2014, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and
    Neurodynamics (CINN) / School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences,
    University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom
    PhD 2008-2012, Center for Systems Neuroscience Hannover (ZSN) / Hannover
    Medical School (MHH), Clinic of Psychiatry, Socialpsychiatry and
    Psychotherapy, Hanover, Germany
    [1] https://ki.se/kind/start

Research

  • My research focuses on neural correlates and behavioral markers of Autism
    Spectrum Condition (ASC) and ASC-related symptoms. More specifically, I am
    interested in biomarkers of overall symptom severity, social cognition
    deficits, altered reward functioning and especially altered sensory
    processing in ASC.
    Since 2019, I started a project [1]on the link between ASC and synesthesia,
    a non-pathological sensory phenomenon where sensory stimuli such as letters,
    weekdays, sounds or smells automatically lead to additional sensations such
    as color and/or shape. Synesthesia occurs more commonly in people with ASC,
    but the reason for this is unknown. In my project, I am investigating in a
    large twin cohort from The Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS
    [2]) whether/to what extent this link is genetic. I am further looking into
    the neural correlates and sensory processing differences overlapping between
    both conditions. As a recently admiited Pro Futura Scientia fellow [3], I am
    further styding the association between synesthesia and a wider range of
    mental health conditions, including obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
    Within the Roots of Autism and ADHD Twin Study in Sweden (RATSS [4]), one of
    my primary aims is to identify brain connectivity-based biomarkers for ASC
    including both functional brain connectivity [5] during the resting state
    using functional MRI and structural connectivity measured via Diffusion
    Tensor Imaging in twins. I am also investigating the genetic vs environmental
    basis of altered sensory processing in ASC, such as globally vs locally
    directed attention in visual processing and hyper- and hyposensitivity to
    sensory input.
    [1] https://www.rj.se/en/anslag/2018/where-is-the-link-between-synesthesia-and-autism-a-twin-study-on-shared-neural-mechanisms-and-their-causes/
    [2] https://ki.se/en/meb/the-child-and-adolescent-twin-study-in-sweden-catss
    [3] http://www.swedishcollegium.se/subfolders/Fellows/Profutura/Janina_Neufeld.html
    [4] https://ki.se/en/kind/the-project-ratss
    [5] https://www.nature.com/articles/mp2017160

Articles

All other publications

Employments

  • Principal Researcher, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2025

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2024
  • PhD, Hannover Medical School, 2012

Leadership and responsibility assignments

  • Treasurer for Junior Faculty, Karolinska Institute, 2022-
  • Research team leader, Team Neufeld, Karolinska Institute, 2022-

Supervisor

  • Yating Huang, 2023
  • Karl Lundin Remnélius, Female autism phenotypes : sex/gender differences in functioning, camouflaging, and eating problems, http://hdl.handle.net/10616/48554
  • Hjalmar Nobel

Committee work

  • Member, Junior Faculty Steering Group, Karolinska Institute, 2022-

Visiting research fellowships

  • Postdoc, University of Reading

Editorial work

  • Scientific Reports, Guest editor, 2022

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