Head: Mag. Isabella Wimmer, PhD
Our group investigates pathological mechanisms in inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Our main focus lies on multiple sclerosis (MS), but we are also very much interested in antibody-mediated autoimmune encephalitis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, MOG antibody-associated disease, etc.
Currently, we are establishing a whole range of different techniques, which will allow us to examine the effects of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) on immune cells in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neuroinflammatory diseases. In parallel, we examine the expression of proteins-of-interest in archival MS brains via immunohistochemistry and aim to further support our studies with spatial transcriptomics.
We work in close collaboration with the clinicians of the Department of Neurology at the General Hospital of Vienna and thus have access to a large collection of serum, CSF, blood cell and CSF cell samples of patients with neuroinflammatory diseases.