Brain researcher new honorary professor at AU
Andrew Tasker is a new honorary professor at Aarhus University. He carries out research into how changes in brain development lead to later-onset neurological disease.
![[Translate to English:] Andrew Tasker undersøger, hvordan hjernens strukturer og funktion ændrer sig ved specifikke sygdomme i hjernen. Ved blandt andet skizofreni og epilepsi ses mange års tiltagende dysfunktion i hjernen, før symptomerne viser sig og diagnosen bliver still](/fileadmin/_processed_/c/4/csm_Andrew_Tasker_1d9076c2d4.jpg "[Translate to English:] Andrew Tasker undersøger, hvordan hjernens strukturer og funktion ændrer sig ved specifikke sygdomme i hjernen. Ved blandt andet skizofreni og epilepsi ses mange års tiltagende dysfunktion i hjernen, før symptomerne viser sig o")
How does the structure and the function of the brain change in diseases such as schizophrenia and epilepsy? This is the subject of Andrew Tasker’s research. He has recently been affiliated with the Translational Neuropsychiatry Unit (TNU) at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University.
"I'm pleased with my new formal affiliation with Aarhus University. This makes it possible to continue my current collaboration with the researchers and students at the faculty, TNU and the PET Centre in Aarhus," says Andrew Tasker.
In his research, he examines how the brain’s structure and function change in connection with specific diseases in the brain before symptoms become visible. In the case of schizophrenia and epilepsy, many years of increasing dysfunction in the brain can be seen before the symptoms show-up and lead to a diagnosis being made.
"By understanding how the brain changes before some symptoms are seen, we hope to identify early biomarkers for the disease and to find new therapeutic targets, which can be used to halt the development of the disease before it reduce the patient’s quality of life," explains the researcher.
The research is particularly targeted at young people who have suffered trauma around the time of birth, and are at risk of developing neurological diseases.
Andrew Tasker is professor of neuropharmacology at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Further information
Professor Richard Andrew Renwick Tasker
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
tasker@upei.ca