Our Aim:
In multiple sclerosis infiltrating immune cells damage resident cells of the nervous system such as neurons and oligodendrocytes. This structural damage is responsible for the irreversible functional deficits in patients with multiple sclerosis. The aim of our work is to better understand how immune cells cause nervous system damage and use this knowledge to develop novel treatment strategies that limit tissue damage in multiple sclerosis.

Our Approach:
We use in vivo imaging techniques in combination with viral and transgenic labelling to follow in real-time the cellular and molecular interactions that underlie tissue damage in animal models of multiple sclerosis. Based on these insights into the in vivo pathogenesis we then use genetic and pharmacological manipulations to design and evaluate new therapeutic strategies that foster tissue protection and repair.

Selected publications:

Breckwoldt MO et al. Multi-parametric optical analysis of mitochondrial redox signals during neuronal physiology and pathology in vivo. Nature Medicine in press

Romanelli E et al. Cellular, subcellular and functional in vivo labeling of the spinal cord using vital dyes. Nature Protocols 8: 481-90 (2013)

Marinkovic P et al. Axonal transport deficits and degeneration can evolve independently in mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. PNAS 109: 4296-301 (2011)

Bishop D et al. NIRB – near infrared branding efficiently correlates light and electron microscopy. Nature Methods 8: 568-70 (2011)

Bareyre FM et al. In vivo imaging reveals a phase-specific role of STAT3 during CNS and PNS axon regeneration. PNAS 108: 6282-7 (2011)

Nikic I et al. A reversible form of axon damage in multiple sclerosis and its animal model. Nature Medicine 17: 495-9 (2011)

Misgeld T et al. Imaging axonal transport of mitochondria in vivo. Nature Methods 4: 559-61

Misgeld T & Kerschensteiner M. In vivo imaging of the diseased nervous system. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 7: 449-463 (2005)

Kerschensteiner M et al. In vivo imaging of axonal degeneration and regeneration in the injured spinal cord. Nature Medicine 11: 572-577 (2005)

Bareyre FM et al. Transgenic tracing of the corticospinal tract: a new tool to study axonal regeneration and remodelling. Nature Medicine 11: 1355-1360 (2005)

http://www.klinikum.uni-muenchen.de/Institut-fuer-Klinische-Neuroimmunologie/de/index.html