DISTINCTIONS. This year sees two newcomers from the University of Gothenburg on the Clarivate Analytics list of the world’s most cited researchers: Nicholas Ashton and Deliang Chen. In total, 14 of our researchers now belong to the top percentage of those most frequently cited by other researchers.
Nicholas Ashton is a researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, working within clinical neurochemistry. As a relatively young researcher, it feels great to be recognized on a list of the world’s research elite.
“Research is all about collaboration, and much of my work would not be possible or successful without the commitment of colleagues and students at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the University of Gothenburg and from collaborators in Sweden and around the world,” says Nicholas Ashton.
Sensitive Alzheimer’s tests
In his research, he is developing highly sensitive and accurate tests for Alzheimer’s disease, based on blood and spinal fluid samples. Among other things, he has contributed to the method where the pathology causing Alzheimer’s disease can now be identified around 15 years before symptoms emerge, based on analysis of phosphorylated tau protein in blood.
“These tests are now widely accepted in research and implemented as clinical tools in memory clinics around the world. Moreover, such tests are now key components of developing new medicines and in studies of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Nicholas Ashton. He continues:
“The success of these blood tests in Alzheimer’s disease has given us momentum and confidence that we can quickly develop blood tests for other dementias, such as vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and frontal lobe dementia – this is our focus now.”
Several important publications
He cites several important publications that have led to the citations that have now put his name on the list of the world’s most cited, where he and his colleagues have provided new evidence that a blood test for Alzheimer’s is possible. He has also been active in work examining brain damage after COVID-19, which has also been widely cited.
The list of the most cited researchers already includes Kaj Blennow, Professor, Chief Physician and head of the large department where Nicholas Ashton also works.
“He is also my mentor and has given me the platform to develop my own line of research during the last five years,” says Nicholas Ashton.
14 in total from the University of Gothenburg
The 14 researchers at the University of Gothenburg included in Clarivate Analytics’ list of the world’s most cited researchers in 2023 are: Ulf Andreasson (Neuroscience and Behavior), Alexandre Antonelli (Cross-Field), Nicholas J. Ashton (Cross-Field), Fredrik Bäckhed (Microbiology, and Molecular Biology and Genetics), Johan Bengtsson-Palme (Cross-Field), Kaj Blennow (Neuroscience and Behavior), Deliang Chen (Cross-Field), Gunnar C Hansson (Cross-Field), Malin E.V. Johansson (Cross-Field), Petia Kovatcheva-Datchary (Cross-Field), Joakim Larsson (Cross-Field), Henrik R. Nilsson (Cross-Field), Michael Schöll (Neuroscience and Behavior), and Valentina Tremaroli (Cross-Field).
In total, the Highly Cited Researchers list includes 7,125 names of researchers worldwide. All of them are authors of several scientific publications that belong to the top percentage of cited publications within their field in the last decade. In addition to citations, Clarivate Analytics’ experts also conduct an analysis of the quality of the work, which is taken into account in the assessment.
You can see the full list of Highly Cited Researchers 2023 here: https://clarivate.com/highly-cited-researchers/
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
