Lars Edvinsson
Lars Edvinsson
Lars Edvinsson trained at Lund University Medical Faculty and graduated as MD with PhD in 1980. He became Professor of Internal Medicine at Lund University and senior consultant at the University Hospital in Lund in 2002. He is also the founder of the Glostrup Research Park and has been its leader for the last 15 years. He is also president of The International Headache Society and Professor in Clinical Pharmacology at Copenhagen University.
He is a leading expert in the field of cerebral circulation and migraine. He has been a major contributor to what is known about the roles of the cerebral vasculature in health and in stroke and primary headaches. Working with Peter Goadsby, he identified calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) as a key transmitter in the trigeminal pain pathway and which is selectively released during a migraine attack. Based on his findings he proposed that CGRP may be of central importance in cerebral blood flow and migraine.
Professor Edvinsson and his group have contributed numerous basic research and clinical insights that have enabled the successful translation of CGRP drugs from bench to clinic. He is currently studying the female bias in migraine. Recently he showed that the trigeminal CGRP containing neurons are equipped with receptors for estrogen and oxytocin, and they may hence be regulated by the dynamic changes in levels of these hormones in females. Typically, both hormones drop just prior to menstruation and this may be a trigger for migraine attacks. The molecular understanding is still not solved so more research in this area is on the horizon.
The Brain Prize 2021 is also awarded to:
