Veronica Beckvard's research passion is the study of Alzheimer's disease, and she is eager to start shaping her PhD project in the NAD PhD programme.
Veronica Beckvard has a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the UK and a master’s degree in Medical Science from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Growing up in multiple countries, Veronica has spent much of her life adapting to new cultures, languages and environments:
“I think this has shaped me and made me highly adaptable, resilient and open to change - all qualities, that I find very important in research. Moving frequently has also taught me collaborate effectively with diverse groups of people, which has strengthened my ability to work in multidisciplinary teams,” Veronica explains.
Veronica’s research passion lies in the study of Alzheimer’s disease – in fact, this has been the case since her high school years. She is especially interested in sex differences in AD and how menopause and hormonal changes may increase disease risk and progression. For her first rotation, she will be working with iPSCs and receive training in cell line characterisation and microglia differentiation in the Freude Lab at the University of Copenhagen.
Veronica is excited to build a network and a PhD project:
“I think the NAD programme will be a perfect opportunity for me to return to my home country and build a network within the neuroscience community in Denmark. I also love the fact that we have a pre-PhD year, where we get to try out different laboratories, environments and research methods before committing to one project. During my pre-PhD year, I aim to narrow down the exact topics and research questions on which I will build my PhD. I also look forward to getting to explore different laboratories across Denmark,” Veronica says.