Arbeitsgruppe Dr. Stefan Nessler

My group focuses on inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), combining human pathology and preclinical disease models to gain insight into pathogenic disease mechanisms. We are currently establishing preclinical disease models of cortical demyelination (Lagumersindez-Denis, Wrzos, Mack et al., 2017) and smouldering lesions, both of which provide histopathological correlates of disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). Furthermore, we are developing microglia depletion models to better understand whether microglia loss is the disease-initiating event in X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD), as has been suggested by human pathology studies (Eichler et al., 2008; Bergner et al., 2019). Recently, we identified type I interferons as the key factor for neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in RNase-deficient leukodystrophies (Kettwig, Ternka et al, 2021). Finally, we work on antibody-driven disease mechanisms in neuromyelitis optica (Bennett et al., 2009; Winkler et al., 2021).

Our methodological approach is rooted in the profound characterization of human biopsies and autopsies of patients with demyelinating diseases. We make use of transgenic, reporter and humanized disease models in which we apply state-of-the-art tissue- and cell-based molecular techniques to broaden our pathogenetic understanding.