Institute of experimental neurology
Neuro-Immune Interactions
Despite the well-recognized contribution of autoreactive immunity to neurological disorders, the underlying immune players and mechanisms remain poorly defined in most human neurological diseases, posing major challenges for accurate diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Our research aims to unravel the immune processes driving the onset and progression of disorders affecting the central and peripheral nervous systems, with the overarching goal of translating mechanistic insights into clinical applications. To this end, we employ state-of-the-art immunological and computational approaches to characterize autoreactive immune responses directly from patient-derived samples (including blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and tissue biopsies) and to identify the molecular pathways that may inform the development of targeted therapeutic strategies.
Research activity
In our laboratory, we investigate how autoreactive immune responses interact with the nervous system and contribute to disease pathogenesis in immune-mediated neurological disorders, including both inflammatory peripheral neuropathies and central nervous system diseases. We combine deep immune phenotyping, antigen-specific single-cell screening, and immune receptor sequencing to define the specificity, clonal composition, and functional states of autoreactive immune cells across disease stages and subtypes. Given the well-documented post-infectious nature of several neuroimmune conditions, we also dissect the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying cross-reactive and degenerate immune responses in infection-triggered disease. Overall, our research seeks to elucidate the immune pathways driving neurological disease in humans and to lay the foundation for more precise diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic strategies.
