st1412_webb

SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER | MEETS | LOU BRUNDIN
T
he computer screen is
an explosion of colored
dots. Half of the screen
is a mix of fireflies with
green dots and dashes.
The other half is full
of golden flakes, and
it takes a while to spot
a single, tiny, green
mark.
On the left things
are as they should be
with lots of green dashes. On the right, there’s a single
misplaced green dot. That’s a picture of a brain
injury, zoomed in to the cellular level.
Welcome to Lou Brundin’s world.
“I love the brain. The senses – vision, hearing,
taste... Why do we sleep What’s it like being in a
coma, and what’s the difference between being
comatose and sleeping How does memory
work And feelings” says Brundin, a professor of
neurology at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute and
a researcher at one of the largest MS centers in
Europe.
Her goal is for people suffering from multiple
sclerosis (MS) to live normal lives. She thinks this
will be a reality before she retires.
“Or within my lifetime at least.”
B
rundin is squirreled away in a small lab
on the second floor of the neuro center,
where the newly installed equipment
for zooming in on and filming cells is
located.
The lab is down a corridor. The floor is made of
vinyl and the doors are protected by codes. Inside,
Brundin and the rest of her team are testing different
ways of protecting the brain’s stem cells in the
event of a brain injury.
34
Teaching is a big
part of the job
‘I have the most
faith in finding
ways for the brain
to heal itself. I
can never be as
precise as the
body’
In 2009, Brundin was awarded the Swedish
Society of Neurology’s Golden Reflex
Hammer for her work as a teacher
WHO SHE IS AND
WHAT SHE DOES
Lou Brundin
Family: Partner Mikael, and two adult
children
Lives: Stockholm
Occupation: Professor of neurology at the
Karolinska Institute since 2008. Head of the
neuro center at the Department of Clinical
Neuroscience since 2011. She is currently
leading a group of 10 researchers focusing
on neural repair/stem cell biology
Doctorate: Brundin has a PhD in sensory
physiology, more precisely hearing
DECEMBER 2014 | SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER