Sofia Bergh, Associate researcher
Sofia Bergh completed her PhD in Neuroscience in May 2026 at the Translational Neuroendocrine Unit (TNU), supervised by Prof. Åsa Petersén, with her dissertation titled "The Hypothalamus as a Key Mediator of Neurodegenerative Disorders". Now working as an Associate Researcher at Lund University, her research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying hypothalamic pathology in Huntington’s disease, ALS, and FTD. She has authored five first- or shared-first-author publications in journals including Brain Pathology, Acta Neuropathologica Communications, and Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology.
Education
2022 - 2026: PhD studies in Neuroscience, Lund university, Lund, Sweden.
Title: The hypothalamus as a key mediator of neurodegenerative disorders
Thesis Supervisor: Åsa Petersén MD PhD, Lund University.
2020-2022 Master of Science in Molecular biology specializing in medical biology, Lund university, Lund, Sweden.
Thesis: Effects of mutant huntingtin on non-motor features of Huntington's disease.
Supervisor::Åsa Petersén MD PhD and Sanaz Gabery MD PhD.
2015-2018: Bachelor of Science in Molecular biology, Lund university, Lund, Sweden.
Thesis: Polymorphism and Expression of CD36 and IRAK3 in Bank Voles.
Supervisor: Lars Råberg PhD.
Employment
2026 - current: Associate researcher in Åsa Petersén's research group at Department of Experimental Medical Science, Lund University, Sweden.
2021: Research assistant in Stanley Heinze’s research group at Functional zoology, Department of biology, Lund university, Lund, Sweden.
2021-2022 University affiliate in Stanley Heinze’s research group at Functional zoology, Department of biology, Lund university, Lund, Sweden.
Publications
Gabery S, Bergh S, Huridou C, Cheong RY, Baldo B, Scheunemann PG, Schoebel M-L, Holmquist Mengelbier L, Englund E, McLean C, Saft C, Kirik D, Björkqvist M, Halliday G, Petrasch-Parwez E, Nguyen HP, Weber JJ and Petersén Å.
The DNA/RNA autophagy protein SIDT2 as a novel neuropathological hallmark in Huntington disease.
Brain Pathology. 2026;e70088. Published 24 February 2026. doi.org/10.1111/bpa.70088.
Bergh S, Simonsson O and Petersén Å.
Analyses of the Effects of Wild-Type TDP-43 Overexpression in Oxytocin Neurons in Mice.
Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 52(1):e70059 (2026)
Oraha J, Wagner R, Bergh S, Lee NJ, Kirik D and Petersén Å.
Differential effects of overexpression of mutant huntingtin and TDP-43 in agouti-related protein neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus in mice.
Acta Neuropathologica Communications 13(1):253 (2025).
Bergh S, Casadei N, Gabery S, Simonsson O, Duarte JMN, Kirik D, Nguyen HP and Petersén Å.
TDP-43 overexpression in the hypothalamus drives neuropathology, dysregulates metabolism and impairs behavior in mice.
Acta Neuropathologica Communications 13(1):119 (2025).
Bergh S, Gabery S, Tonetto S, Kirik D, Petersén Å and Cheong RY.
Effects of mutant huntingtin in oxytocin neurons on non-motor features of Huntington's disease.
Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 49(2):e12891 (2023)
[published correction appears in Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 202349(3):e12905 (2023).
Bergh S, Cheong RY, Petersén Å and Gabery S.
Oxytocin in Huntington's disease and the spectrum of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-frontotemporal dementia.
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience 15:984317 (2022)
Sofia Bergh
E-mail: Sofia [dot] Bergh [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se
Lund University
Translational Neuroendocrinology Research Unit
BMC D11
Klinikgatan 32
221 84 Lund
Sweden