Spokesperson: Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Luisa Klotz (Klinik für Neurologie mit Institut für Translationale Neurologie; Contact)
Deputy spokesperson: Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Tanja Kuhlmann (Institut für Neuropathologie; Contact)

Description of the URTC

Our URTC "Neuroinflammation: understanding and modulating the role of inflammation and repair in neurologic and psychiatric disease manifestations” focuses on the understanding and development of targeted immune and regenerative therapies for (neuro)inflammatory diseases. During the pilot phase, numerous new and interdisciplinary interactions were established, resulting in the joint application for a new DFG research unit entitled “CompassRepair – from comparative organ analysis to new treatment approaches: Molecular mechanisms of repair and clinical recovery in chronic inflammation.” In line with our translational focus, we

• (i) generate and extend our well-curated patient cohorts focusing on aspects of CNS inflammation as well as disease progression,
• (ii) extended our infrastructure for conductance of clinical trials of all stages, partly together with the medical faculty Münster (early clinical trial unit)
• (iii) established various protocols, analytic expertise and analysis algorithms to exploit biospecimens from different compartments,
• (iv) increased our expertise in translational stem cell research, and
• (v) established close collaborations with experts in the fields of artificial intelligence and computational biology to analyse large multimodal data sets and raised funding for an endowed junior professorship (W1) for systems biology in neuroinflammatory diseases.

Scientifically, we will focus on: (i) integrating differential analysis of immune-pathophysiology in (neuro)inflammatory disease manifestations, (ii) role of inflammatory mechanisms in disease progression versus regeneration, (iii) influence of environment and lifestyle (versus genetics) in autoimmune pathophysiology, and (iv) prediction of disease trajectories in affective disorders by combined analysis of imaging and immune signatures. Our four methodological core areas are standardized multi-parameter flow-cytometry, human stem cell research, advanced brain MRI in neurologic and psychiatric diseases, and computational biology and artificial intelligence.

More detailed information about the structure and the different modules in research, education, and patient care will soon be presented on our homepage.