Research interests
My passion is to understand the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases. I aim to identify the pathophysiological key players in order to develop corresponding therapeutic approaches. Focusing on cellular and molecular neuroimmunology, my recent projects investigate sepsis-associated encephalopathy and autoimmune encephalitis.
Sepsis is more than just the red inflammatory line on limbs after an injury of the hands or feet. Sepsis, also known as blood poisoning, is a life-threatening disease. Overall, each year 150.000 people are affected by sepsis in Germany. When people survive a severe sepsis, they frequently suffer from cognitive decline as a long-term effect. They are often re-hospitalized or in need of nursing which leads to a huge burden of the health care system as well. Since ICU treatments improve and protect more and more people from death, the number of people affected is even further growing.
Hence, we aim to develop therapeutic strategies to tackle the cognitive decline of sepsis survivors. This will not only relieve the health care system but will also improve the quality of life of thousands of affected people. To this end, we use a mouse model and human brain tissue samples to investigate how this sepsis associated decline develops.
Furthermore, I investigate patient-derived autoantibodies that cause autoimmune encephalitis.
Tel: 03641 9 32 35 94