News Archive

December 2022 – Identifying subtle tissue changes at disease initiation or characterizing the molecular perturbations that trigger disease progression remains difficult in animal models or post-mortem human organs. To address this challenge, ISD investigators developed DISCO-MS, a 3D spatial-omics technology that combines methods of tissue clearing with cutting edge AI, robotics and proteomics technologies. They applied DISCO-MS to an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model and to atherosclerotic plaques in the human heart to identify spatial-molecular maps. >>

November 2022 – Of the world’s population of scientists and social scientists, Highly Cited Researchers™ are 1 in 1,000. The current list from Clarivate identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science™ citation index. >>

October 2022 – Among the hallmarks of brain aging is a decline in white matter volume and function. Using scRNA-seq, the Gokce and Simons labs characterized age-related oligodendrocyte and microglial states. They identified a population of interferon-responsive oligodendrocytes (IRO) and microglia (IRM) that localize near CD8+ T cells in white matter. Lack of CD8+ T cells prevented age-related cell loss in white matter. Their findings unravel a so-far unknown role of the adaptive immune system during brain aging >>

October 2022 – A rapid immune response to signals released from pathogens and injuries is critical for maintaining tissue integrity and restoring homeostasis. This response is largely mediated by the concerted action of pattern recognition receptors. Such cooperativity has been described for Toll like receptors (TLRs) and the NLRP3 inflammasome, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. ISD investigators now demonstrate that IKKβ binds NLRP3 providing a shortcut to inflammasome activation for rapid immune responses >>

October 2022 – The German Research Foundation (DFG) has decided to fund the DFG Research Unit "ImmunoStroke: From Immune Cells to Stroke Recovery“ with 4.6 Million € for a second funding period of 3 years. The consortium is coordinated by Arthur Liesz and spans across 4 German universities, bringing together researchers in Munich, Hamburg, Essen and Münster >>

September 2022 – A GWAS meta-analysis of >110,000 stroke patients and 1.5 Mio controls from five different ancestries identified multiple novel stroke risk loci. The study provides genetic evidence for putative drug effects with converging evidence for drugs targeting F11 and KLKB1 among others. Drugs targeting F11 and F11a are currently being examined in phase II trials for stroke prevention. A polygenic score predicted ischemic stroke across ancestries and in clinical-trial participants with cardiometabolic disease >>

September 2022 – The Leducq Foundation has chosen to fund an International Network of Excellence on Brain Endothelium: A Nexus for Cerebral Small Vessel Disease (BRENDA) with 7.5 M USD over five years. The Network is coordinated by Martin Dichgans and Frank Faraci (University of Iowa, USA) and involves further investigators from Germany, Sweden, France, and the USA >>

July 2022 – ISD research teams met for the annual scientific retreat to present their projects and discuss the science. At the heart of this meeting were presentations from Ph.D. students, including an evening poster session, a guest talk by Nobel price laureate Reinhard Genzel, and focused workshops. The meeting further served as an opportunity to familiarize people with the medium- and long-term strategy of ISD.

June 2022 – The Collaborative Research Center CRC1123 “Atherosclerosis - Mechanisms and Networks of Novel Therapeutic Targets” was awarded a 3rd funding period until 2026. The cluster encompasses 20 projects. ISD scientists participate in projects A2 (Hundelshausen/Bernhagen), A3 (Bernhagen/Kapurniotu), B3 (Asare, Dichgans), B11 (Liesz/Sager). J. Bernhagen is the Vice-Spokesperson. CRC1123 aims to elucidate the mechanisms and molecular networks driving atherosclerosis and further the identification of therapeutic target candidates >>

May 2022 – Complicated nonstenosing carotid artery plaques (CAPs) are an under-recognized cause of stroke. Applying high-resolution contrast-enhanced carotid MRI to patients with acute ischemic stroke, ISD investigators found complicated CAP ipsilateral to acute ischemic anterior circulation stroke to be associated with an increased risk of recurrent ischemic stroke or TIA. Carotid plaque imaging identifies high-risk patients who might be suited for inclusion into future secondary prevention trials >>

March 2022 – Tau pathology drives neuronal dysfunction in 4-repeat tauopathies. Here, ISD researchers combined tau-PET, resting-state fMRI and histopathology data, to show that brain connectivity is associated with tau deposition patterns in patients with 4-repeat tauopathies >>

February 2022 – The EMBO Workshop on Stroke-Immunology running 9 – 12 March in Munich, Germany, will provide a platform for uniting experts in the field with leading scientists from related research areas, including immunology, neuroscience, and advanced research tools. This shall facilitate close interactions and lasting relationships between established scientists in this emerging research area with leaders in related fields, accelerating further developments in stroke-immunology >>