Background
I was born in 1972. I got my PhD in Medicine at Umeå University, department of Medical Biosciences with the dissertation "Telomeres and telomerase in normal and malignant hematopoietic cells" in 2000. I received my MD in 2004, Umeå University and I have since then performed research at the department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry. I became an associate professor of Experimental Psychiatry in 2013.
Research partners
My main collaborator has been Professor Rolf Adolfsson (the psychiatry unit). Other important collaborators throughout my research; Professor Göran Roos (Umeå University), Professor Lars-Göran Nilsson (Stockholm University) and Professor Jurgen Del-Favero (Antwerp University).
Three major research areas of mine
1. Telomere biology
Research on telomeres which are repetitive DNA-sequences capping the chromosomes was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2009. Telomeres are believed to influence the aging process and to provide information pertaining to the biological age. Most recently, I have been investigating the biomarker value of the telomere length pertaining to structural and functional measures of the brain. See also the doctoral dissertation "Telomeres and the brain" (2011) by Mikael Wikgren (I was the main supervisor).
2. Causes and effects of stress and stress-dysregulation.
The research is focused at understanding the causes and effects of stress and stress-dysregulation in the general population and in affective disorders. We have a particular interest in investigating one of the body's most central stress-coping systems; the HPA-axis and its effector molecule cortisol. See also the doctoral dissertation "Hypocortisolism in recurrent affective disorders" (2015) by Martin Maripuu (I was the main supervisor).
3. Psychosomatics
One psychosomatic condition studied is IBS which shows comorbidity with affective disorders, stress and inflammation. The pathophysiology of IBS is however largely unknown. We also study chronic pain from which many suffer often without medical doctors being able to identify specific causes. We investigate the role of stress- and mood-dysregulation for the etiology and the expression of these conditions. See also the doctoral dissertation "The emotional motor system and gastrointestinal symptoms" (2008) by Pontus Karling (I was co-supervisor).
Teaching
I have taught on a diverse number of subjects within the following university programs at Umeå University, e.g.: the programs of medicin, dentistry, biomedicine, science in environmental health, speech and language pathology. I have tutored PhD-students since 2005.