Marcela Pekna, M.D., Ph.D.

Marcela Pekna, M.D., Ph.D., received her M.D. from Charles University in Prague in 1990 and her Ph.D. in clinical immunology from Uppsala University in Sweden in 1993. She is associate professor in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation and the director of the Laboratory of Regenerative Neuroimmunology at the Center for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation (CBR), Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her scientific interests have evolved from studying the role of the complement system in disease pathogenesis to focusing predominantly on the functions of the complement system in brain repair after ischemic stroke. Her laboratory’s longstanding goal is to understand the role of complement activation in stroke-induced brain plasticity. She is convinced that better understanding of the inflammatory response in cerebral ischemia and brain repair will lead to the development of new markers of functional recovery and the designing of novel and individualized treatments for stroke patients.