IMSF team members

Head of the Institute

Head of the Institute

Prof. Dr. Alexander Flügel

Prof. Dr. Alexander Flügel

contact information

secretariat

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
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Secretariat

Catherine Ludwig

 Catherine Ludwig

contact information

secretariat

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen

Research group “Live imaging of neuroimmunological processes”

Group leader

Prof. Dr. Francesca Odoardi

Prof. Dr. Francesca Odoardi

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
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Research group “Molecular and cellular neuroimmunology”

Group leader

Dr. Dmitri Lodygin

Dr. Dmitri Lodygin

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
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Research group “Genetic neuroimmunology”

Group leader

PD Dr. Fred Lühder

PD Dr. Fred Lühder

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
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Research scientists

Research scientist

Alyssa Baert

 Alyssa Baert

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Postdoc

Roger Cugota Canals

 Roger Cugota Canals

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
  • The results of our research group point indicate that the lung plays a major role in the autoimmunity occurring in the central nervous system. Antigen-specific T cells can be reactivated in the lung and then undergo a complex molecular reprogramming. Thereby these cells gain a migratory phenotype that permits them to enter the CNS (Odoardi et al., 2012). The lung differs from all other organs with regard to its milieu conditions. In my project, I’m investigating how the lung environment influences the activation of immune cells, and by extension the occurrence of autoimmunity in the CNS.

Research scientist

Àlex Gascón Saperas

 Àlex Gascón Saperas

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Postdoc

Michael Haberl

 Michael Haberl

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
  • My PhD project is the description and characterization of T cell and myeloid cell motility at the blood-brain barrier. My emphasis lies in combining intravital imaging with mathematical approaches to understand inflammatory processes in the CNS better. I’m interested in visualizing immunological processes with intravital microscopy and then processing the data with quantitative analyses using statistical models and algorithms from the area of machine learning, also integrating transcriptome data into these models.

Scientific coordinator

Dr. Lisbeth Harder

Dr. Lisbeth Harder

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Postdoc (Klaus Faber Fellow)

Dr. Leon Hosang

Dr. Leon Hosang

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
  • Risk factors for multiple sclerosis include smoking, COPD and infections and inflammation of the airways. This points to a central role of the lung in the pathogenesis of this autoimmune disease. Our research group could show in an animal model of multiple sclerosis called experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) that the lung is an essential check-point for autoaggressive T cells which trigger the disease. After the cells are transferred into the animal, they surprisingly first reside in the lung tissue. During this stay the cells are reprogrammed and given the ability to overcome the blood-brain barrier and trigger the inflammation in the central nervous system typical of EAE. The aim of my project is to investigate the role of the lung and the specific characteristics of this organ in the pathogenesis of EAE.

PhD student

Soghra Kargaran

 Soghra Kargaran

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
  • Our eye is especially protected from potentially damaging influences by the immune system. Nevertheless, this protection is not absolute; inflammation can occur in the eye and is a common complication in CNS autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. How these (auto)immune reactions develop in the ocular milieu is as yet poorly understood. In my PhD project I aim to understand the dynamics of the immune processes underlying T-cell-mediated ocular inflammation. Furthermore, I will investigate the effects of T-cell-mediated inflammation on the resident cells. Technically, to address these points I will track the inflammation in vivo using advanced intravital imaging techniques (e.g. two-photon microscopy and MRI) and characterize it by cellular and molecular analyses.

Postdoc

Dr. Henrike Körner

Dr. Henrike Körner

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
  • The focus of my current research is on how T cells can invade the CNS and cause inflammatory reactions there. I’m interested in how the antigen specificity of the T cells influences their invasive targeting of specific areas of the CNS (grey matter or white matter).

Masters Student

Anna Rosemarie Kraeft

 Anna Rosemarie Kraeft

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Postdoc

Dr. Marc-André Lécuyer

Dr. Marc-André Lécuyer

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
  • Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by multifocal lesions in the brain and spinal cord. These lesions are caused by infiltrating immune cells that take advantage of and/or actively participate in the disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Identifying novel key players involved in this process is thus an important goal of mine in the hope that it will lead to the development of MS therapies aimed at promoting BBB integrity during neuroinflammation.

Postdoc

Dr. med. Arianna Merlini

Dr. med. Arianna Merlini

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
  • I am a neurologist and achieved my PhD in neuroimmunology in Prof. Odoardi’s research group (2021), where I am now continuing my research as a postdoc. My research focus is the characterization of T-cell-mediated immune responses in different compartments of the central nervous system, using a combination of intravital microscopy, flow cytometry and transcriptomics.

PhD student

Lukas Christoph Müller-Kirschbaum

 Lukas Christoph Müller-Kirschbaum

contact information

  • Autoreactive T cells play a decisive role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis and its animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The aim of my PhD project is to better understand the T-cell-driven inflammatory processes in the central nervous system. My work especially concentrates on the direct interplay between autoreactive T cells and neurons. By means of targeted genetic manipulation I want to manipulate the bond between the T cells and neurons and thereby find out more about the functional significance of their interaction.

Masters Student

Kira Pahl

 Kira Pahl

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Masters Student

Mandy Pavel

 Mandy Pavel

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Masters Student

Ruben Michael Ferdinand Scherer

 Ruben Michael Ferdinand Scherer

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Student Lab Assistant

Anna Lia Schicktanz

 Anna Lia Schicktanz

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Research scientist

Annika Schmidke

 Annika Schmidke

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen

Information Technology

IT Coordinator

Omar Lautaro Diaz

 Omar Lautaro Diaz

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
IT Student Assistant

Alzain Mohamed Mahgoub Osman

 Alzain Mohamed Mahgoub Osman

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen

Research technicians

Laboratory technican

Birgit Curdt

 Birgit Curdt

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Medical research technician

Simone Hamann

 Simone Hamann

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Laboratory technican

Leonard Linde

 Leonard Linde

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Laboratory assistant

Brigitte Salzmann-Aue

 Brigitte Salzmann-Aue

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen
Medical research technician

Martina Weig

 Martina Weig

contact information

Address

Department for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research
Von-Siebold-Straße 3a
37075 Göttingen