Luana Naia

Luana Naia

Assistant Professor
Visiting address: Blickagången 6, 14157 Huddinge
Postal address: H1 Neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, H1 Neurogeriatrik Ankarcrona, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • My scientific career has been grounded on studying mitochondrial function, dynamics and mitotherapeutics with potential to reach clinical studies. I
    received my PhD in neuroscience and health sciences in 2017 from Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal. My post-doctoral work was focused on the study of mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum contact sites (MERCS) in neurodegeneration and drug discovery to modulate MERCS. This work was done in multidisciplinary team coordinated by Teva Pharma and Prilenia Therapeutics and later at Karolinska Institutet, under the research group of Prof Maria Ankarcrona. In 2023 I was appointed as Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institutet where I develop my research line which is focused on neuro-astrocyte mitochondrial communication with a focus on Alzheimer´s Disease.

Research

  • ´ Mitochondria are the clandestine rulers of our world`
    My research is focus on mitochondrial function, dynamics and organelle interplay (mitochondria associated membranes) in neurodegeneration,
    particularly in Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, my current goals are to understand the molecular mechanisms leading to deficits in synaptic mitochondria and how neuron-glia crosstalk can influence/modulate those deficits in Alzheimer’s disease models. We are particularly interested in studying mitochondrial transfer between brain cells by tunneling nanotubes and extracellular vesicles (mitovesicles). We also have been developing a pipeline to study mitovesicles metabolic signatures in health and disease.

Teaching

  • 2022-present: Coordinating and lecturing the PhD course Alzheimer’s disease: clinical features and pathogenic mechanisms (Karolinska Institutet)
    2019-present: Teaching Cell death mechanisms in the PhD course Protein Mechanisms in Health and Disease, from the Clinical Research School in Molecular Medicine (Karolinska Institutet)
    2018-present: Teaching Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration in the Master programme in Biomedicine (Karolinska Institutet)

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Mitovesicles: a novel approach to understand and tackle neurodegeneration in Alzheimer ́s disease
    Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2027
  • Innovative ways to fight Alzheimer´s disease: Fluid biomarkers and intracellular therapies
    Private donation from Leif Lundblad Family and others
    1 October 2023 - 30 September 2026
  • Potential of extracellular mitochondria for therapy and diagnosis in Alzheimer´s disease
    Petrus and Augusta Hedlunds Foundation
    2 January 2022 - 31 January 2024
  • Mitochondria on the road: neuroglial crosstalk in Alzheimer’s disease
    StartNeuro – funding for postdoctoral researchers
    1 June 2020 - 31 December 2021
  • Exploring extracellular mitochondria in Alzheimer's disease: from organelle-based therapy to biomarkers
    Alzheimerfonden
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2023

Employments

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2028
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Mitochondria and neurodegeneration, Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), 2017-2018

Degrees and Education

  • PhD in Neurosciences, Health Sciences – field Neuroscience, Role of lysine deacetylases on transcription regulation and mitochondrial function in Huntington's disease, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 2017
  • Master in Biotechnology, Biotechnology in Health Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 2011
  • Bachelor in Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 2008

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