Our warmest congratulations to Jasper Holleman who successfully defended his doctoral thesis “Novel biomarkers associated with stress: from normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease” at Karolinska Institutet on 18 June.
In his work, Jasper has explored the potential relationship between chronic stress and Alzheimer’s disease. In a cohort of memory clinic patients, he has studied the association between indicators of stress and the performance on cognitive tests, as well as the association with Alzheimer’s disease-related changes in the brain.
The results show an association between stress (measured in cortisol levels and self-reported exposure) and lower performance on cognitive tests. One important finding was that stress exposure in adolescence was associated with poorer cognition, while exposure to stress in adulthood was not. The association with other Alzheimer’s disease-related markers was not as clear, but there are indications of links between the stress system and certain pathological processes connected with Alzheimer’s disease.
These findings show that further exploration is needed, and that stress reduction strategies are an important aspect of dementia prevention.
Dissertation opponent: Mika Kivimäki
Dissertation chairman: Ivan Nalvarte
Examination board: Linda Magnusson Hanson, Elena Rodriguez-Vieitez and Bo Melin
Main supervisor: Shireen Sindi
Co-supervisors: Miia Kivipelto, Daniel Lundqvist and Mikkel C. Vinding
