Environmental and biological determinants of brain health – Debora Rizzuto research group

Our research investigates how environmental and biological factors shape brain health across ageing, with a focus on the pathways leading to cognitive decline, mental health disorders, and dementia.

Part of the:
Debora Rizzuto, Epidemiologist, Docent in Geriatric Epidemiology
Portrait, close-up. Photo: Private
Principal investigator

Debora Rizzuto, Epidemiologist, Docent in Geriatric Epidemiology

EcoMind – Environmental determinants of health and ageing

We examine the role of environmental exposures, including air pollution, noise, and green space, in health and ageing. Our research investigates their long-term effects on cognitive and mental health, dementia, and other age-related conditions. We also study the pathways underlying these associations and the factors that may shape vulnerability and resilience across the ageing process.

Giulia Grande, Neurologist and Epidemiologist, Assistant Professor
Giulia Grande, Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institutet Photo: Stefan Zimmerman
Principal investigator

Giulia Grande, Neurologist and Epidemiologist, Assistant Professor

AD-CoPath – Alzheimer’s disease and co-pathology in brain ageing

We examine the biological and clinical heterogeneity of brain ageing and dementia, with particular emphasis on blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. We investigate how these biomarkers relate to cognitive and brain changes, disease development and progression, and how their clinical meaning vary across the heterogeneous and complex health profiles of older adults. Our goal is to understand how biological markers can be interpreted and used in the context of real-world ageing populations.

Research news and upcoming activities

Current projects

Our research investigates how environmental exposures, biological processes, and individual health characteristics shape health and ageing. The work is organised into two research lines, EcoMind and AD-CoPath, addressing environmental and biological determinants of ageing from complementary epidemiological perspectives.

EcoMind – Environmental determinants of health and ageing

he EcoMind research line investigates how environmental exposures shape health across the ageing process. Using long-term environmental exposure assessment and deeply characterised population-based cohorts, we study the effects of air pollution, noise, green space, and other environmental factors on cognitive and mental health, dementia, and a broad range of ageing-related conditions. We also investigate the biological and functional pathways underlying these associations, as well as factors that may increase vulnerability or promote resilience. Our overarching goal is to understand how the environment contributes to trajectories of health and ageing and to identify potentially modifiable factors that may reduce its adverse effects.

  • PI: Debora Rizzuto
  • Team members: Ana Alonso Hellweg, Paulina Sell, Andrei Pyko, Yiyi Xu, Giulia Grande

We investigate how long-term exposure to air pollution may contribute to cognitive decline and dementia. Using data from Swedish population-based cohorts, we examine the association between air pollution and dementia risk and explore the biological and functional pathways that may underlie this relationship. These include, among others, vascular and neurodegenerative processes, changes in brain structure, blood-based markers, and olfactory function. Our aim is to better understand the mechanisms and pathways linking long-term air pollution exposure to cognitive and brain ageing and dementia.

We investigate the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and a range of ageing-related conditions, including multimorbidity, sarcopenia, and concurrent decline in cognitive and physical function. Our research aims to understand how air pollution may contribute to health deterioration across multiple domains of ageing and to identify individuals who may be particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects.

We investigate how long-term exposure to transportation and occupational noise affects mental and cognitive health across ageing. The research examines associations between noise exposure and outcomes such as psychological well-being, cognitive decline, and dementia, while also exploring factors that may influence individual susceptibility to the adverse effects of noise.

We investigate the joint and independent effects of environmental exposures, particularly air pollution and noise, on cognitive ageing and dementia, with a focus on understanding why some individuals are more susceptible to these exposures than others. We examine how individual characteristics and health conditions may shape vulnerability and whether environmental, cognitive, psychological, physical, and social factors can promote resilience. Particular attention is given to the potential protective role of green space and other modifiable factors that may mitigate the adverse effects of environmental exposures on brain health.

AD-CoPath – Alzheimer’s disease and co-pathology in brain ageing

The AD-CoPath research line investigates Alzheimer’s disease in the context of the biological and clinical complexity of ageing. Using blood biomarkers in deeply characterised population-based cohorts, we study how Alzheimer’s disease pathology evolves over time and interacts with other age-related biological processes and health conditions. Our overarching goal is to improve the understanding and interpretation of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in heterogeneous, real-world ageing populations.

  • PI: G Grande
  • Team members: M Valletta, F Gasparini, F Nuti, M Canevelli

We investigate how blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease relate to disease development and progression over time, from changes in cognition and brain structure to the development of dementia. Using long-term population-based data, we aim to characterise biomarker profiles and trajectories across different stages of cognitive and brain ageing and to understand their value for identifying individuals at risk of future clinical progression.

We study Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers within the broader biological framework of ageing. By integrating AD biomarkers with markers of inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, cellular stress and other ageing-related processes, we investigate how different biological profiles contribute to heterogeneity in cognitive ageing and dementia development. This work aims to move beyond single-disease biomarkers towards a more integrated understanding of the multiple biological processes underlying dementia in old age.

We investigate how the health complexity of older adults influences the expression, interpretation and clinical relevance of Alzheimer’s disease blood biomarkers. Our research examines cardiovascular, cardiometabolic, renal, haematological and other age-related conditions, as well as their co-occurrence, to understand how systemic health interacts with AD-related biology and shapes cognitive and dementia trajectories. Ultimately, we aim to support the interpretation of blood biomarkers in the clinically heterogeneous populations in which they will be used.

Publications

Selected publications

All publications from group members

Doctoral theses

2023

Jing Wu: "Ambient air pollution and transportation noise: how they affect mental health in older adults"

2020

Giulia Grande: "Development of dementia in older adults: the body-mind connection"

2013

Debora Rizzuto: "Living Longer than Expected: Protective and Risk Factors of Human Longevity"

Funding

EcoMind – Environmental determinants of health and ageing

PI: Debora Rizzuto

Funded projects

  • Air Pollution, Noise, and Dementia Risk: Biological Pathways and Resilience Mechanisms
    FORMAS, 2026–2030
  • Air pollution and brain ageing: uncovering biological pathways
    Karolinska Institutet / KID, 2026–2030
  • SoundMIND – Noise exposure and mental and cognitive health
    Forte, 2023–2026
  • Biomarker signatures of air pollution in dementia risk
    Demensfonden, 2025
  • From air pollution to dementia: causal pathways through brain pathology
    Alzheimerfonden , 2025
  • Air pollution and brain aging: uncovering the biological mechanisms
    Alzheimerfonden , 2024
  • Can a Healthy Physical and Social Environment Compress the Period of Disability in Older Adults?
    Forte, 2017–2022
  • Examining the factors that contribute to human longevity using a life-course perspective
    Forte, Postdoc grant, 2015-2016

AD-CoPath – Alzheimer’s disease pathology and co-pathology in brain ageing

Funded projects

Carrier and strategic support

Giulia Grande holds a centrally funded Assistant Professor position at Karolinska Institutet (2025–2030), awarded by the Karolinska Institutet Committee for Research in 2025.  Her research has also received support from the Karolinska Institutet Strategic Research Area in Neuroscience (StratNeuro).

Principal Investigator grants

  • Blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease pathology, somatic co-pathology and dementia development in old age
    Alzheimerfonden · Principal Investigator · (2025)
  • Integrating blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and clinical data for dementia prediction in older adults with multimorbidity
    Svenska Läkaresällskapet · Principal Investigator · (2025)
  • Tracing changes in blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia prediction in the community
    Svenska Läkaresällskapet · Principal Investigator · (2025)
  • Dementia development in old age: exploring the interplay between Alzheimer´s disease pathology and cardiovascular co-pathology
    Karolinska Institutet KID doctoral funding · Main Supervisor / Project PI · (2026-2030)
  • Promoting cognitive health by exploring intergenerational differences in cognitive trajectories among Swedish older adults
    Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) Principal Investigator  (2023–2025)
  • Exploring the biological underppinings linking disease burden and dementia development in old age 
    Hjärnfonden Principal Investigator  (2022–2024)

Work Package leader in national and international research programmes

  • Unravelling the Role of Glucose Dysregulation in Dementia Progression: A Multi-Centre Study Across Europe and Turkey
    Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) | Work Package Leader | 2026–2028
  • TraCeDem – KI Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care 
    Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) Work Package Leader | [2026-]
    Work package: Epidemiology of dementia, its prevention and inequalities

Staff and contact

Group leader

All members of the group

Contact and visit us

Postal address

Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
Karolinska Institutet
SE-171 77 Stockholm

Visiting address

Tomtebodavägen 18 A, Widerström Building, floors 9 and 10
SE-171 65 Solna

Map - Tomtebodavägen 18a, Solna

Research infrastructure

Logo
National E-Infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR), logotype.

The National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) is a unique research infrastructure that was founded in 2018. NEAR facilitates the use of databases from major population longitudinal studies on aging and health in Sweden. It is a collaboration between eight universities including Karolinska Institutet, University of Gothenburg, Lund University, Umeå University, Jönköping University, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Uppsala University and Stockholm University.

NEAR – official website