Maria Ankarcrona

I am Professor of Experimental Neurogeriatics and study cellular mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease. I am head of the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS). I was the director of doctoral studies at NVS between 2012-2017. During the 2015-2018, I was faculty representative on the Board of Doctoral Education (FUS) and during 2019 faculty representative on the Faculty Board. These were very interesting, stimulating and important assignments. To pursue issues that I am passionate about and to be a part of developing KI is both interesting and fun. This is something that I brought with me when I took over as head of NVS, one of KI's largest departments with large assignments in research and education.

My research focuses on mitochondrial function in Alzheimer's disease with the long-term goal of identifying new drug candidates. Of particular interest is the interaction between the endoplasmic network (ER) and the mitochondria. I have been the coordinator of a EU project (JPND / VR) where a consortium of five partners aimed to identify common and distinct disease mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease with a focus on regulation of mitochondrial function and cellular bioenergtics. As a part of project, we have identified a molecule that positively affects mitochondrial function and which we are now developing further.