Biography:
Torbjörn Bäckström, MD and PhD, senior professor at the Department of Clinical Science, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Umeå University as well as head of the Umeå Neurosteroid Research Center, started Umecrine Mood together with the Karolinska Institutet innovation system in 2006 and the company became Asarina Pharma in 2015. Professor Bäckström's main focus of research since 1972 is the effect of sex and stress hormones on the brain and in particular on the GABA-system, and conditions induced by these hormones. He has published more than 400 scientific publications within this area and he is a frequently invited key-note speaker at scientific meetings around the world. In 1989 professor Bäckström served several years on the scientific advisory board of the pharmaceutical company, CoCensys in the US, a company based on his own and the research of professor Kelvin Gee from University of California. Several active compounds were developed and one of these is currently in phase III of clinical development. CoCensys, was listed on the NASDAQ stock market until 1994, when it was sold to a larger pharmaceutical company.
Title : GABA-A receptor modulating steroids impair memory and promotes dementia but can be antagonized with GABA-A receptor modulating steroid antagonists.