About me
I am a cognitive and behavioural neuroscientist based in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (Psychology Division) of Karolinska Institutet, with a background in statistics, functional neuroimaging and neuroeconomics. My main research interest is in food perception and dietary choices, focusing on nutrient-specific sensation and perception as well as reward integration. Prior to joining KI, I did my PhD with Dr Fabian Grabenhorst in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, investigating the role of textural cues in fat-sensing and reward valuation. Currently, I am employed by Dr Janina Seubert as a postdoctoral researcher to study the integration of olfactory and gustatory cues.
Research description
In order to regulate the consumption of essential nutrients, the brain’s reward system responds to them in such a manner that eating becomes a pleasurable act. However, this rewarding aspect of eating may also lead to over- or under-consumption of nutrients, leading to an energy imbalance, which has been implicated in obesity and other co-morbid diseases. My research focuses on the perception of specific properties of various foods and how this information is integrated to evoke these hedonic reward values upon consumption through the use of structural and functional MRI in addition to well-controlled stimuli and behavioural tasks.
In my PhD research, I worked with Dr Fabian Grabenhorst (University of Cambridge) to study textural cues of fat-sensing and reward integration in the human brain using well-controlled food stimuli, formal economic valuation, real-life ad libitum eating tests, neuroimaging and multivariate pattern analysis.
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Nutritional Neuroscience Group under Dr Janina Seubert (https://ki.se/en/cns/janina-seuberts-research-group) on an ERC Starting Grant project, using a combination of MRI, behavioural tasks and pattern analysis to shed light on the role of olfactory cues in taste integration and food preference. In doing so, I hope to be able to explore the addictive nature of certain foods to facilitate shifting towards healthier and more sustainable eating patterns.
Education
2017 MSc by research in Integrative Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh
2021 PhD in Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, investigating the neural detection of oral fat and reward integration under Dr Fabian Grabenhorst