Current Projects:

Develop a customized bioreactor system providing biomechanical and electrical stimulation for the generation of 3D cultures. Investigate a-synuclein pathology in 3D-differentiated GBA-PD and isogenic gene-corrected iPSCs.

Latest Breakthrough:

Research focus:

Research in our laboratory concentrates on the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, with a special emphasis on the role of inflammation in Parkinson’s disease. Neuroinflammatory genes have been associated with several neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. Our aim is to understand, at the molecular level, how disease-associated genetic variants affect immune cell metabolism, and how immune responses within or outside the brain contribute to neurodegeneration. Another line of research concentrates on the role of GBA1 mutations in Parkinson’s disease. GBA1 mutations represent the most common risk factor for Parkinson’s disease identified to date. Ongoing research in our laboratory focuses on the mechanistic pathways involved in GBA1.

Links: Publications on Pubmed, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases DZNE

Current members: Link to DZNE group members