Martin Kerschensteiner

Forschungsmodulprojekte

Betreuerin: PD. Dr. Florence Bareyre, Institut für Klinische Neuroimmunologie

Projekt: In our laboratory we are interested in studying the anatomical, functional and molecular mechanisms underlying the recovery process following spinal cord injury in an attempt to develop new therapeutic strategies that can support axonal and functional repair. In particular we are currently trying to understand the role of synaptogenic molecules in helping axons remodel following injury. In this student project we want to immunhistochemical techniques to characterize the effect of semaphorin7A deficiency on the neuronal and immune response to spinal cord injury.

Betreuer: Prof. Dr. Martin Kerschensteiner, Institut für Klinische Neuroimmunologie

Projekt: In our laboratory we are studying how neurons are damaged in the common neuroinflammatory disease multiple sclerosis. This is an important question as the extent of neuronal damage ultimately determines the persistent neurological deficits in MS patients. We have previously discovered that inflammation-induced changes in the neuronal membrane play a key role in the induction of axon degeneration. In this student project we want to set up a cell culture model that allows us to study the induction (and ultimately the therapeutic prevention) of such membrane changes in a simplified model.

Betreuer: PD. Dr. Naoto Kawakami, Institut für Klinische Neuroimmunologie

To study pathological mechanisms of multiple sclerosis, we use experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis as an animal model. The project focuses on establishing mouse primary encephalitogenic T cells, which induce disease after adoptive transfer. The T cells are further labelled with fluorescent proteins by retroviral gene transfer to perform intravital imaging by two-photon microscopy.