Due to the multifaceted approach that we have chosen for studying ageing, the expertise of the research team needs to be completed and enriched through collaborations. At the moment we have already established contacts with senior researchers who will bring their expertise on the following topics:

Environmental and occupational exposure

Tom Bellander, associate professor, from the Department of Environmental Health, Stockholm County Council, is an occupational and environmental epidemiologist, and he has accepted to supervise the assessment of occupational exposures and air pollution in our project. He is also a reference point for issues concerning epidemiological method.

Social environment

Johan Fritzell, professor in Social Gerontology at Aging Research Center and leading the sector of social gerontology, will bring his expertise in measuring different social factors and in evaluating the impact of such factors on the health and functioning of the elderly.

Nutrition

Tommy Cederholm, MD, professor, from the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Uppsala University, is a clinician with an expertise in nutritional problems of the elderly. He will be our reference point for planning and analysing data concerning this topic. He is organising a European project on alcohol intake and diet in relation to dementia, in which our project will be included.

Genetic risk factors

Caroline Graff, MD, associate professor, from the KI-Alzheimer Disease Research Center, Karolinska Institutet is internationally known for her work on genetic aspects of Alzheimer’s disease. She is coordinating several EU-projects including United Kingdom, France and Netherlands. She will investigate, in our database, the genetic factors involved in the etiopathogenesis of different diseases and differential survival.

Physical functioning

Luigi Ferrucci, MD, professor, from the Geriatric department, National Institute for Research and Care of the Elderly, Florence; Italy, is a geriatrician with an expertise in assessment of functional disability in the elderly. In collaboration with the Jack Guralnik, NIA, Bethesda, USA, he has developed a new protocol to identify functional predictors of future disability, morbidity and mortality.

Neuroimaging and electrophysiological patterns

Lars-Olof Wahlund, MD, professor, from the Division of Clinical Geriatrics, NVS, Karolinska Institutet, will take care of the instrumental examinations of a sub-sample of at risk subjects. They have the responsibility for all phases, from planning to the execution of the examinations.

Care and costs

Further contacts are ongoing both to enlarge the external collaborations, and to constitute the Advisory Board. We are working to establish more collaborative partners internationally, such as the National Institute of Aging in NIH, Bethesda, and the Institute of Public Health, Cambridge University.