October 1st Matthias Kaiser starts his Phd student time in our lab. The aim of his project is to characterize microglial risk factors of Alzheimer's disease. Welcome Matthias, have a great time in our lab!

Our latest study – Schmidt et al., JCI (2024) – identifies BACE2 as the protease responsible for shedding vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR3) and establishes that BACE2 is a modulator of physiological VEGFR3 signaling both in vitro and in vivo, revealing its unique role in lymphangiogenesis distinct from BACE1. These findings are relevant for clinical translation, as they demonstrate that soluble VEGFR3 could serve as a pharmacodynamic marker for BACE2 activity, which is crucial for developing BACE1-selective inhibitors which  may provide safer treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Read more about our study here: https://www.jci.org/articles/view/170550

Mona has successfully defended her Bachelor thesis titled "Proteomic Investigation of the Physiological Function of the Alzheimer's Risk Gene" under the supervision of Marlene Assfalg. Congratulations on receiving a very good grade for the exam!

After two very successful events in London (2022) and Leuven (2023), the third annual CURE-ND workshop for ECRs took place in Bonn from the 18th to the 20th of March.

Over 110 participants came together to discuss and share ideas, as an excellent opportunity to network and engage, in the joint effort to accelerate the pace of scientific advancement of the field of neurodegenerative diseases.

One of the key points of the workshop was that all participants get the chance to present their work, in the form of a scientific poster, a rapid 2-minute flash talk or a scientific presentation.

Congratulations to your successfull PhD defense and obtaining your Doctoral degree with Summa Cum Laude, Georg Jocher! We wish you all the best in your future career, for your Postdoc time in Harvard and with all your endeavours!

The latest status meeting of the Clinspect-M consortium took place at the Schneefernerhaus, just below the summit of the Zugspitze.

Our stay in the lovely Obere Firstalm combined in-depth science with a joint hiking activity. It allowed to look “over the edge” of our daily scientific routine and to contemplate our scientific activities and goals while enjoying the amazing food and the beautiful mountainous scenery.

Our lab was awarded with CoEN (Centers of Excellence in Neurodegeneration) grant for the functional and mechanistic characterization of Alzheimer’s disease risk genes.

Congratulations Marlene Assfalg! At the retreat of the Medical Life Science and Technology PhD Programme on the 3rd of December 2022, she received the award for best presentation.

On the 19th of September 2022, the Lichtenthaler lab made a hike to the Rotwandhaus. "Will there be snow?", was the curious question at the foot of the mountain. Nobody had expected this amount of snow at the top...

Congratulations Johanna Tüshaus! For her PhD thesis on the proteomic secretome in primary brain cells, she was honored with the PhD prize of the german proteomics society (DGPF).

Congratulations to your successfull PhD defense and obtaining your Doctoral degree, Andree Schmidt! We wish you all the best in your future career with all your endeavours!

Congratulations Miranda Lastra Osua! On the 30th of December 2021 she was honoured with the GBM Master Award in Biomedical Neuroscience. Miranda worked on the functional characterization of microglial cells lacking the iRhom2 gene. This gene is described as an important factor in the development of Alzheimer's Disease. GBM contact person Stefan Lichtenthaler handed over the award.