Håkan Karlsson, Ph.D.
Håkan Karlsson, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Focus
Our research efforts are focused on the etiology and pathogenesis of schizophrenia. For these purposes we use Swedish registers and biobanks as well as biological samples obtained from patients during different stages of the disease.
In such samples we try to identify risk-factors and markers of disease onset and progression. In experimental animal models we investigate how these factors interact to affect behavior, primarily relating to cognition. Based on observations of transcriptional aberrancies of regions of the human genome harboring elements in the W family of human endogenous retroviruses (HERV-W) in patients suffering their first episode of schizophrenia we have a special interest in investigating why and when such regions are transcribed in different human tissues.
Selected Publications
Infections in CNS during childhood and the risk of subsequent psychotic illness. A cohort study of more than one million Swedish subjects.
American Journal of Psychiatry 165: 59-65, 2008
Elevated levels of HERV-W transcripts in blood cells from patients with first episode schizophrenia.
Genes, Brain & Behavior 7: 103-112, 2007
Transactivation of elements in the human endogenous retrovirus W family by viral infection.
Retrovirology 3: 44, 2006
HERV-W related RNA detected in plasma from individuals with recent onset schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
Molecular Psychiatry 9: 12-13, 2004
Retroviral RNA identified in the cerebrospinal fluids and brains of individuals with schizophrenia.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 98: 4634-4639, 2001
Karolinska Institutet
Retzius väg 8
S-17177 Stockholm, Sweden
