September 2022 – A GWAS meta-analysis of >110,000 stroke patients and 1.5 Mio controls from five different ancestries identified multiple novel stroke risk loci. The study provides genetic evidence for putative drug effects with converging evidence for drugs targeting F11 and KLKB1 among others. Drugs targeting F11 and F11a are currently being examined in phase II trials for stroke prevention. A polygenic score predicted ischemic stroke across ancestries and in clinical-trial participants with cardiometabolic disease >>

September 2022 – The Leducq Foundation has chosen to fund an International Network of Excellence on Brain Endothelium: A Nexus for Cerebral Small Vessel Disease (BRENDA) with 7.5 M USD over five years. The Network is coordinated by Martin Dichgans and Frank Faraci (University of Iowa, USA) and involves further investigators from Germany, Sweden, France, and the USA >>

July 2022 – ISD research teams met for the annual scientific retreat to present their projects and discuss the science. At the heart of this meeting were presentations from Ph.D. students, including an evening poster session, a guest talk by Nobel price laureate Reinhard Genzel, and focused workshops. The meeting further served as an opportunity to familiarize people with the medium- and long-term strategy of ISD.