Expertises

Genetic epidemiology; next generation sequencing, aging, familial hypercholesterolemia; amyloidosis; cardiovascular disease

Main research areas

Visible aging signs - such as hair graying, facial wrinkles and baldness - as risk markers for age-related disease and poor health.

Identification of novel heritable factors for familial hypercholesterolemia in the general population.

Transthyretin amyloidosis in the general population.

Current research

I am currently involved in two primary research projects:

1. To examine the spectrum of genetic variants in the TTR gene (encoding transthyretin) in the Danish general population - and to determine the correation with plasma transthyretin levels, amyloidosis and amyloidosis related phenotypes.

2. A study on the molecular origin of disturbed lipid metabolism (i.e. LDL and triglyceride metabolism) in order to identify novel targets for pharmaceutical intervention and hereby improving treatment of cardiovascular disease. Our role in this project is to validate whether potential pharmaceutical targets indeed affect intermediate lipid phenotypes and risk of cardiovascular disease in the general population. This is done with the use of Next Generation Sequencing in the very large and well-defined population-based studies - the Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen General Population Study - as well as large case-control studies in patients with coronary artery disease.

Potential conflicts of interest

None