23. December 2015
Apolipoprotein E (APOE) represents the major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, but its role in other neuropsychiatric diseases is less well established. In this study, performed in collaboration with researchers from Ruhr University Bochum, we investigated the role of APOE in a transgenic mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). While our group had shown earlier that genetic variants in APOE do not significantly alter the risk for MS, they do appear to exert a modest effect in mice suffering from an experimental form of MS, highlighting – again – the challenges of translating results from animal models to the human condition. The study was published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
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3. November 2015
LIGA researcher Dr. Christina Lill is this year’s recipient of the Research Award of the Renate Maaß foundation. The award is granted annually to young scientists to honor their achievements in human brain research. The prize comes with a 5.000 € endowment and will be awarded at Lübeck city hall in a ceremony hosted by the University of Lübeck on November 4, 2015.
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16. October 2015
In a large, international collaborative effort, LIGA researchers Lill and Bertram established seven novel genetic loci as genuine Multiple Sclerosis (MS) risk loci (i.e. LOC100506457, CD28, LPP, ETS1, DLEU1, LPIN3, and IFNGR2). To this end, they undertook an association study on >21,000 MS patients and healthy controls from Europe and Russia in which they evaluated 11 loci for their role in MS susceptibility. The majority of these loci are shared across autoimmune diseases. This study was published in the Journal of Medical Genetics..
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11. June 2015
A sequence variant in the TREM2 gene (R47H) was recently proposed as a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. In a large international effort, LIGA investigators Christina Lill and Lars Bertram coordinated the to-date largest and most conclusive genetic study on the role of TREM2 R47H in all major neurodegenerative diseases. The work was recently published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
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19. May 2015
News feature in Nature Reviews Neurology on our TREM2 publication by Lill et al in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
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