Knudsen is one of the leading figures in the neurosciences, assisting various European Union nations to prioritize research and grants.
In addition, her research into the brain and its chemistry during depression, Alzheimer's disease, and states induced by drugs such as GHB and ecstasy (MDMA) is at the forefront of world knowledge, and she is a noted scholar in these areas, publishing many papers on each topic.
[2] The Lundbeck Foundation, created in 1954, donated one of the largest amounts ever given toward the development of medical knowledge, listing a total of DKK 504 million to various institutions in 2011.
[3] With a 40 million grant from this program, Knudsen, together with a team of researchers from the Center for Integrated Molecular Imaging of the Brain (CIMBI),[4] University of Copenhagen, are concentrating on investigating the neural bases of personality that predispose individuals to various disorders, using PET and MRI technology.
She is currently the Center Director of The Lundbeck Foundation Centre for Integrated Molecular Brain Imaging (CIMBI).