Christoffer Laustsen
An expert at scoping out brain cells
Besides being complex and astonishing in every respect, the human brain also acts as a highly sensitive disease barometer. But only, that is, with the expertise and machine power for forcing the well-hidden information out of the brain cells.
In a series of scientific studies, Professor Christoffer Laustsen, head of the MR Research Centre at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University, has demonstrated that he has both the expertise and machine power to accomplish this – and for which he is now rewarded by the Lundbeck Foundation with the 2022 Young Investigator Prize.
Christoffer Laustsen, 39, researches brain cell metabolism, and, as he explains, this is the source of the sensitive disease barometer:
‘When disease or traumatic injury occurs in the brain, such as cancer, dementia or stroke, it impacts and alters brain cell metabolism. These biochemical impacts and changes in brain cell metabolism hold all kinds of information needed for gaining a better understanding of cerebral diseases. This information can be accessed using a so-called hyperpolarised MR scanner.’
25 such scanners exist worldwide, and two of them are in Denmark: one at the MR Research Centre at Aarhus University, the other at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen.
‘These are powerful machines,’ says Laustsen, who in 2018 received a Lundbeck Foundation Fellowship, which allowed him to set up his own research team:
‘Because with a hyperpolarised MR scanner, we can amplify a signal from a cell 10,000-fold, and there are currently no other scanning techniques capable of that. This means that we can observe, in real time and in three-dimensional images, how brain cells absorb and convert a given substance. And this is significant because brain cell metabolism is the mechanism – the engine – that ensures cells are able to do their job. By observing the metabolism in real time, we can see in minute detail how a given cerebral disease messes with the brain cell engine. This tells us something about the typical progression of a cerebral disease, but can also spark ideas for trying to develop new treatments.’
Another potential from applying hyperpolarised MR scanning in the study of cerebral disease is that it paves the way for giving patients more personalised treatment. After having examined a sufficient number of patients with a given cerebral disease using this technique, we have gained a fairly precise picture of how brain cell metabolism is impacted at a specific disease stage, Laustsen explains:
‘Based on that information, we can see how severely each patient is afflicted by the disease when the diagnosis is made, and can adapt the patient’s care plan accordingly – and this is what we’re now working to fine-tune.’
Laustsen and his colleagues at the MR Research Centre are also working on other projects to address prevention and treatment of cerebral disease. One of these projects focuses on the brain injury caused by stroke. Here the aim – based on records of changes in brain cell metabolism from a large number of patients – is to develop a technique for assessing the long-term effects of stroke in the individual patient.
The initial findings of this research project, which is being conducted in collaboration with colleagues from institutions such as Technical University of Denmark and University of California, San Francisco, were published in 2021. This was in the form of an article in the international Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
‘That article was based on studies conducted in pigs. But we’re now studying changes in brain cell metabolism in a number of people who have had a stroke. However, we’ve a way to go before we can report the findings of this project,’ says Laustsen.
Christoffer Laustsen talks about his research and the prize:
Christoffer Lausten is a Lundbeck Foundation Fellow of 2018:
Christoffer forsker i blodpropper i hjernen. Når der opstår en blodprop i hjernen, sker der samtidig et skift i hjernecellernes...
