Lars Tjernberg

Om mig

I have dedicated my 24 years in scientific research to understand how the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) is formed and how it polymerizes into fibrils, and how these processes can be studied and targeted. I have expertise in analytical chemistry with focus on chromatography and spectrometry and long track record as a project and group leader at Karolinska Institutet. Under my leadership, we have had a long-lasting industrial collaboration with a Japanese pharmaceutical company, resulting in several patent applications on Aβ related discoveries. Importantly, I have shown the motif most critical for Aβ polymerization (residues 16-20 in Aβ, also called the Tjernberg peptide), and that ligands binding to this motif can inhibit Aβ polymerization. Furthermore, I have developed strategies for single plaque core analysis, proteomics of selected cells, and studying Aβ polymerization at nanomolar concentrations. I use several different systems including in vitro, cell lines, primary neurons, mouse as well as human brain. I have been in the forefront of introducing and setting up new technology at the department, including nanoscale liquid chromatography, isotope-labeling proteomics, laser capture microdissection and proximity ligation interacting studies in neurons. More recently, my group have developed expertise in super-resolution microscopy and reported on the synaptic localization of the Aβ producing enzyme γ-secretase.