Dichgans Lab | ISD Research

Research Focus

A major starting point of our work are patients with stroke that are examined through prospective clinical studies along with healthy individuals. We apply genetic (GWAS and sequencing) and other omics techniques to identify novel targets and pathways relevant to specific mechanistically defined stroke subtypes.

We use this information to explore relationships with informative intermediate (e.g. vascular, metabolic) and related phenotypes (e.g. coronary artery disease). We have established genetic mouse models for cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) derived from the genetic discoveries (e.g. HtrA1, Col4A1, Foxf2) and use these models to identify and characterize key molecular (e.g. TGF-ß signaling) and physiological (e.g. blood-brain-barrier) pathways and cellular targets (in particular vascular endothelial cells and brain pericytes) relevant to the pathogenesis of SVD.

Another area increasingly moving into the focus of our research is atherosclerosis. We in collaboration with others recently identified several risk loci for large artery stroke and are currently exploring the role of relevant genes (e.g. HDAC9, TSPAN2) in atherogenesis and vascular injury (-> see here for details).

Publications

Team

Yaw Asare

I joined the Dichgans lab in September 2014 after my PhD and a short postdoc stay in RWTH Aachen University (BernhagenLab). Building on my expertise in vascular signaling, the crosstalk between epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and the NFkB pathway driving vascular inflammation is a major research focus. Several in vivo mouse models of atherosclerosis and vascular injury are flanked by in vitro mechanistic studies to decifer the role of HDAC9 in vascular inflammation. We further explore the inhibition of HDAC9 as a therapeutic strategy to reduce vascular inflammation, which may serve as a target for interventional studies in humans.

Nathalie Beaufort, Postdoc

I grew up and studied in France, and obtained my doctoral thesis in Physiology and Physiopathology in 2005 at University Paris 6. After post-doctoral experiences in France and Germany, I joined the group of Martin Dichgans at the ISD in 2010 as a research associate. My work focusses on the biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology of cerebral small vessel disease with an emphasis on CARASIL, an inherited disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations targeting the HTRA1 protease. To explore the pathomechanisms underlying CARASIL and develop innovative repair strategies, I combine the analysis of recombinant proteins, patient-derived primary cells and mouse tissues.

Anna Kopczak, clinician scientist

Originally from Poland, I grew up in Germany and studied medicine at the University Duisburg-Essen and at the LMU. During my clinical residency in neurology, I was involved in clinical studies dealing with hormonal disturbances after brain damage such as traumatic brain injury and stroke. From 2011 to 2016, I continued my clinical education and improved my scientific knowledge at the Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich. With my clinical expertise as a neurologist and my experiences in clinical research, I joined the group of Martin Dichgans in April 2016 as a clinician scientist. The focus of my research are clinical studies to improve our understanding of stroke mechanisms and to optimize treatment of cerebrovascular diseases.

Rainer Malik, Postdoc

Originally from Austria, I studied molecular biology with a focus on computational biology and protein structure prediction at the University of Salzburg. As an early adopter in the bioinformatics field, I changed subject to further strengthen my computational knowledge and obtained my PhD in Computer Science at the Universiteit Utrecht in 2006. After a first PostDoc analyzing cell-cycle dependent proteomics data (Prof. Nigg, MPI Biochemistry, Martinsried), I joined the ISD at the very beginning in 2009 to analyze large-scale OMICS data. Here, over the last years, we have led or participated in all major genetic studies of stroke and stroke-related comorbidities. Through extensive international collaborations (ISGC, METASTROKE, MEGASTROKE) we strive to translate genetic, genomic and other OMICS findings to animal models and subsequently to the clinic.

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Melanie Schneider, technical assistant

I finished my education as a medical technical assistant in 2005 and immediately started working with Professor Martin Dichgans. I take care of organizational issues to all groups, place orders and do many histology works for my group members (e. g. preparing and cutting tissue, do staining’s, microscopy and sometimes evaluations). I am currently involved in projects aimed at identifying the mechanism underlying proatherogenic role of HDAC9 and exploring the therapeutic potential of HDAC9 inhibition for atheroprotection.

Katalin Todorov-Völgyi, Postdoc

Originally from Hungary, I studied biology and obtained my PhD in 2016 at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest in molecular neurobiology, focusing on the early molecular changes in Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular Dementia. I joined the Dichgans lab as a Postdoc in February 2017. My research aims to reveal the molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), stroke and vascular cognitive impairment. For these purposes, I use a genetic mouse model with Foxf2 deficiency, which was identified as a novel risk gene in SVD and stroke in recent Genome-Wide Association Studies. To understand the role of Foxf2 and identify new molecular targets in SVD patomechanisms, I combine omics technologies, microscopy, image analysis, and behavior assessments on mouse models. Outside the lab, I like photography, hiking, traveling and exploring new places.

Simon Frerich, PhD student

I joined the Dichgans Lab as a PhD student in bioinformatics in 2020. Currently, I am using spatial transcriptomic data to identify stroke-related focal processes in the brain. Prior to this, I followed up on our stroke GWAS findings, mainly by leading a Mendelian Randomisation analysis of cardiac risk factors for stroke. I am also part of the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences at LMU Munich. Prior to my PhD, I engaged in a research internship with Eric Westman at Karolinska Institute. I hold an MSc from Imperial College London and a BSc from TU Dresden with a stay at NTNU. Besides my PhD, I am frequently found on the way to an Alpine summit.

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