Jonas Persson

Jonas Persson received his PhD from Umeå University in 2002. After a one-year post doc, also at Umeå University, he spent three years as an 
international research fellow at the Department of Psychology, University of Michigan. From 2008-2011 he was leading an independent research group on the neural basis for cognition and aging at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, which has been funded by the Swedish Science Council. During that period he also became an associate professor (Docent) at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University. From 2011 to 2025 he was employed as a senior researcher at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Intitute. Jonas Persson is currently a full professor at Örebro University and affiliated with ARC.  

My research primarily deals with the interaction between brain structure-function and higher cognitive functions in aging, with a particular focus on memory (episodic/working memory) and executive control functions. These questions are addressed by means of structural (brain anatomy) and functional (brain function) MRI and measures of cognitive performance.

More specifically, I use functional, neurochemical and structural neuroimaging and behavioral assessments of higher cognitive functions, such as cognitive control, working memory, and episodic memory to investigate:

• How different neuromatabolites, such as GABA and glutamate relate to memory functions in normal aging
• Differences in neural responses between young and older adults, and its implications for cognitive decline in old age.
• Age-related changes in the structure of the brain, including white-matter changes (as assessed by diffusion-tensor imaging), and volumetric changes.
• Structure – function correlates related to increased genetic risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

I am also the scientific coordinator and principle investigator of the IDA program (Individual Development and Adaptation), which is a large ongoing longitudinal research program that has followed people from their childhood when they went to school in the Swedish town Örebro in 1965

(https://www.oru.se/forskning/forskningsprojekt/fp/?rdb=p1402). In 2022, we started the IDA-BRAIN project, that uses brain imaging, cognitive testing

and health assessment to examine early life determinants of successful cognitive and brain aging. In 2025, we received additional funding from 

FORTE to start a new data collection. 

At ARC, I am involved in the IronAge project (PI Grégoria Kalpouzos), in which the impact of brain iron concentration on brain activity, psychomotor and memory performance in aging is studied. Another aim is to uncover the genetic, physiological and lifestyle determinants of brain iron accumulation. At baseline (2016-2017), 208 volunteers aged 20-79 years old were included. At follow-up (2019-2020), 135 came back for a reassessment. The project was funded by the Swedish Research Council twice, Alzheimerfonden twice and Karolinska Institutet (KI grant and KID funding). I am also co-PI (main PI Gregoria Kalpouzos) o the ElastAge project where we investigate the biomechanical properties of the brain in cognitively healthy individuals and in preclinical Alzheimer's disease patients using Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE). Previous research has shown that in normal and pathological aging, the brain tissue becomes "softer". We investigate the molecular and microstructural neural underpinnings of the viscoelastic brain parameters, and relate those to brain activity and cognitive performance. This is a collaborative project between ARC/KI, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm/Division of Biomedical Imaging (KTH), and the Memory Clinic of Karolinska University Hospital Solna. 

I have extensive teaching experience at all levels, including supervision, development, lectures, seminars and demonstrations at multiple universities is Sweden.