Andrea Varrone
Lecturer senior
About me
I am specialist in nuclear medicine, I hold a PhD degree in Functional Radioisotopic Imaging and have a broad competence and expertise in molecular imaging at pre-clinical and clinical research levels acquired during more than 20 years of activity in nuclear medicine. In the last 13 years at Karolinska Institutet, I have conducted pre-clinical and clinical research with positron emission tomography (PET), being responsible for methodological developments in PET quantification using the high-resolution research tomograph (HRRT) system. I have contributed to the development and validation of novel PET radioligands for the study of neurodegenerative disorders with particular focus on Parkinson, Huntington and Alzheimer´s disease.
Research description
Since February 2018 I am research group leader at the Centre for Psychiatry Research on molecular imaging of neurodegenerative disorders. The main research interest is the development of imaging biomarkers for alpha-synuclein, immune cell activation, neurodegeneration and synaptopathy in Parkinson´s disease and related disorders. The main goal of my research is to develop imaging markers for early diagnosis of parkinsonism and dementia, for the assessment of disease progression and for their use as biomarkers for clinical trials with disease-modifying treatments.
Education
1994, Medicine, University “Federico II”, Napoli, Italy
1995, License to practice Medicine (Italy)
1998, Specialist in Nuclear Medicine, University “Federico II”
1997-2000: Post-doctoral Associate, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2003, PhD, Functional Radioisotopic Imaging, “SPECT imaging of the dopamine transporter in Parkinson´s disease and multiple system atrophy”, University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
2008, Approval from Socialstyrelsen of Medical License and Specialty in Nuclear Medicine
Academic honours, awards and prizes
Academic Positions
2001-2007: Researcher, National Research Council, Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging, Italy
2007-2011: Forskarassistent, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience
2011-06-01-2012-09-03: Forskare, Karolinska Institutet (Dnr 1060/10-607), Department of Clinical Neuroscience
2012-03-07, Docent i Nuklearmedicin
2012-09-04, Lektor i Nuklearmedicin, Karolinska Institutet
Awards
1997: Associazione Leonardo di Capua, Yale University School of Medicine
2005: Short-term mobility Program, National Research Council
2008: EANM Eckert & Ziegler Abstract Award
2014: Blue Ribbon selected abstract Movement Disorder Society Congress
2019: Plenary Lecture, European Association of Nuclear Medicine Congress