Neuroimmunology
Research overview
Our research is focused on the manifold interactions between the nervous system and the immune system. This field implies a) reciprocal functional modulation between elements of both organ systems, b) immune reactivity in the healthy and pathologically changed nervous system, and c) the development of new therapeutic strategies based on our explorations. As a particular feature, our research program integrates clinical investigations with basic research projects to allow neuroimmunological investigations spanning from patient-related work to cellular and molecular investigations.This connection is provided by our Clinical Neuroimmunology Group, which is shared by this department with the Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology (INIM, see link to the right), Grosshadern Medical Center. Functional interactions between the nervous and immune systems: mechanisms of immune control of the nervous tissue; pathogenic auto-immune reaction to neural structures; immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis; influence of the immune system on the function of the nervous system; modulation of immunoreactivity by factors of the nervous system.
Project Groups
Autoimmune diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis, are considered to be induced by autoaggressive T-cells: they infiltrate the central nervous system (CNS) where they cause inflammatory conditions. We aim at understanding the cellular mechanisms of this autoimmunity by visualizing the movements of individual T-cells in vivo.
[more]
What causes Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is still mostly unknown. We combine transgenic mouse models with high-end technology to investigate the causes, development and regulation of the specific autoimmunity of the central nervous system (CNS).
[more]
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system. As part of the Clinical Neuroimmunology group, our aim is to elucidate the basic mechanisms of this autoimmune disease.
[more]
For obvious reasons, it is impossible to access the lesion in the living MS brain, which would be the basis for the isolation of suspected autoimmune effector cells. We are thus concentrating on the reconstruction of autoimmune processes from tissue specimens.
[more]
In order to understand physiological mechanisms, the functional identification of cells in biological reactions is a prerequisite. One essential tool for the characterization of cellular surface markers, soluble products, DNA, etc. is the enrichment of cells by FACS sorting. We work at optimizing the sorting parameters for cells relevant in autoimmune diseases.
[more]
The immune system's neurtrophile granulocytes and killer cells provide a strong defense against viruses and bacteria. We are interested in the function and target substrates of the proteases, which play a role in the activation, recruitment, migration and attack of these cells. Our search for specific inhibitors of these proteases is also of clinical relevance.
[more]
