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Anders Björklund

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Anders Björklund
Björklund in 2019
Born (1945-07-11) July 11, 1945 (age 79)
Söderhamn, Sweden
Alma materLund University, Sweden
Known forPioneer in the study of cell- and gene-based reparative and neuroprotective mechanisms in the brain

Anders Björklund (born 11 July 1945) is a Swedish neuroscientist[1] and pioneer in the study of cell- and gene-based reparative and neuroprotective mechanisms in the brain. He has spent his academic career at Lund University in Sweden, as professor since 1983 and as senior professor at the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center since his formal retirement in 2012.[2]

In the 1980s, his team at Lund University pioneered the development of stem cell-based therapies for brain repair, and his group has for more than four decades played a leading role in the development and use of dopamine cell replacement in patients with Parkinson's disease[3]

Björklund was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1989,[4] and Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, in 2011.[5][6]

Career

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Björklund started as a research student in the laboratory of Bengt Falck, the co-inventor of the Falck-Hillarp histofluorescence method for the visualization of monoamine-containing neurons in the brain, and defended his doctoral thesis at Lund University, Sweden, in 1969. He was trained as a neuroanatomist and during his early postdoctoral years he carried out a series of detailed studies of the organization and projections of the monoaminergic systems in the brain, the dopaminergic projection systems in particular. In mid-1970s, Björklund´s interests turned to studies on brain regeneration and repair and in close collaboration with his student Ulf Stenevi he pioneered the development of methods for neural transplantation to the mammalian brain, based on the idea that immature neurons and neuroblasts, obtained from the fetal CNS, can be used to replace lost neurons, restore brain circuitry and promote functional recovery in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases.

Together with Stephen Dunnett and Rusty Gage, who had joined his lab as postdocs in the early 1980s, and two PhD students, Patrik Brundin and Ole Isacson, Björklund's group was first to report functional cell replacement in rodent models of Parkinson's and Huntington's disease,[7][8] and in animal models of hippocampal damage and cognitive decline,[9][10] using transplants of fetal neural tissue.

In 1986, the Lund team obtained permission to use tissue derived from aborted human fetuses in a series of open-label clinical trials in patients with Parkinson's disease. These trials, led by hid former student Olle Lindvall, provided proof-of-principle that immature dopamine neurons can survive and mature in the striatum in advanced Parkinson patients, and restore dopamine neurotransmission in the area of the striatum re-innervated by the grafted neurons.[11][12] Although the clinical outcome has been highly variable, the results in some of the grafted patients have been sufficiently impressive to encourage further development of this approach[13]

Current[when?] efforts, led by Björklund's long-time collaborators Malin Parmar and Agnete Kirkeby and carried out in collaboration with the neurologist Roger Barker at Cambridge University, are focused on the development of transplantable dopamine neurons, derived from human embryonic stam cells, for clinical application with regard to Parkinson's disease[14]

A second major research line in Björklund's lab is focused on the use of neurotrophic factors, nerve growth factor (NGF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor GDNF in particular, for neuroprotection and repair. His lab has been involved in the exploration of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors for neurotrophic factor and enzyme delivery to the brain, as well as the use of rAAV vectors for overexpression of human alpha-synuclein for modeling Parkinson-like neuropathology in rodents and monkeys.[15][16]

In 2013, Björklund received the ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Lund University". Research Portal.
  2. ^ "About us". wnc.LU.se. 17 March 2021.
  3. ^ Shoor, Lauren. "Björklund Awarded Inaugural Robert A. Pritzker Prize | Parkinson's Disease". www.michaeljfox.org.
  4. ^ "Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien" [Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Membership]. kva.se (in Swedish).
  5. ^ "Member Search Results". www.nasonline.org.
  6. ^ Fitzsimmons, B.; Rokach, J. (2012). "Anders Björklund Profile". Proc Natl Acad Sci. 109: 79–92. doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-0937-7_7. PMID 3421159.
  7. ^ Björklund, A.; Stenevi, U. (1979). "Reconstruction of the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway by intracerebral nigral transplants". Brain Research. 177 (3): 555–560. doi:10.1016/0006-8993(79)90472-4. PMID 574053. S2CID 16617524.
  8. ^ Isacson, O.; Brundin, P.; Kelly, P. A.; Gage, F. H.; Björklund, A. (1984). "Functional neuronal replacement by grafted striatal neurones in the ibotenic acid-lesioned rat striatum". Nature. 311 (5985): 458–460. Bibcode:1984Natur.311..458I. doi:10.1038/311458a0. PMID 6482962. S2CID 4342937.
  9. ^ Dunnett, S. B.; Low, W. C.; Iversen, S. D.; Stenevi, U.; Björklund, A. (1982). "Septal transplants restore maze learning in rats with fornix-fimbria lesions". Brain Research. 251 (2): 335–348. doi:10.1016/0006-8993(82)90751-x. PMID 7139330. S2CID 84477.
  10. ^ Gage, F. H.; Björklund, A.; Stenevi, U.; Dunnett, S. B.; Kelly, P. A. (1984). "Intrahippocampal septal grafts ameliorate learning impairments in aged rats". Science. 225 (4661): 533–536. Bibcode:1984Sci...225..533G. doi:10.1126/science.6539949. PMID 6539949.
  11. ^ Lindvall, O.; Brundin, P.; Widner, H.; Rehncrona, S.; Gustavii, B.; Frackowiak, R.; Leenders, K. L.; Sawle, G.; Rothwell, J. C.; Marsden, C. D.; Bjorklund, Anders (1990). "Grafts of fetal dopamine neurons survive and improve motor function in Parkinson's disease". Science. 247 (4942): 574–577. Bibcode:1990Sci...247..574L. doi:10.1126/science.2105529. PMID 2105529.
  12. ^ Piccini, P.; Brooks, D. J.; Björklund, A.; Gunn, R. N.; Grasby, P. M.; Rimoldi, O.; Brundin, P.; Hagell, P.; Rehncrona, S.; Widner, H.; Lindvall, O. (1999). "Dopamine release from nigral transplants visualized in vivo in a Parkinson's patient". Nature Neuroscience. 2 (12): 1137–1140. doi:10.1038/16060. PMID 10570493. S2CID 18892970.
  13. ^ Björklund, A.; Lindvall, O. (2017). "Replacing Dopamine Neurons in Parkinson's Disease: How did it happen?". J Parkinson's Disease. 7 (s1): S23-S33. doi:10.3233/JPD-179002. PMC 5345652. PMID 28282811.
  14. ^ Björklund, A.; Parmar, M. (2020). "Neuronal Replacement as a Tool for Basal Ganglia Circuitry Repair: 40 Years in Perspective". Front Cell Neurosci. 14: 146. doi:10.3389/fncel.2020.00146. PMC 7272540. PMID 32547369.
  15. ^ Kirik, D.; Rosenblad, C.; Burger, C.; Lundberg, C.; Johansen, T. E.; Muzyczka, N.; Mandel, R. J.; Björklund, A. (2002). "Parkinson-like neurodegeneration induced by targeted overexpression of alpha-synuclein in the nigrostriatal system". Journal of Neuroscience. 22 (7): 2780–2791. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-07-02780.2002. PMC 6758323. PMID 11923443.
  16. ^ Cenci, M. A.; Björklund, A. (2020). "Animal models for preclinical Parkinson's research: An update and critical appraisal". Recent Advances in Parkinson's Disease. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 252. pp. 27–59. doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.02.003. ISBN 9780444642608. PMID 32247366. S2CID 214809605.
  17. ^ "ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award winners". www.ecnp.eu. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
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