Neuroproteomik

We are excited to announce that our lab has received a grant from the Alzheimer Forschung Initiative e.V. (AFI) in support our ongoing research efforts to understand how microglia-expressed risk genes affect the pathogenesis of  Alzheimer’s disease.

We are excited to announce that our lab has received funding from EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). This grant will enable us to better understand the molecular mechanisms driving disease progression in the pre-dementia and early dementia stages of Alzheimer’s disease by analyzing CSF proteomics from hundreds of individuals over several years. 

1. In our latest study – Tschirner et al., Mol Cell Proteomics 2025 – we identified soluble VCAM-1 as a BACE2-specific substrate in the brains of non-human primates, suggesting its potential as a CSF biomarker to monitor BACE2 activity. Measuring soluble VCAM-1 levels could help assess target engagement and minimize off-target effects in Alzheimer's disease trials involving BACE1 inhibitors. Read more about the work here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40480341/
2. In our recent study – Jocher et al., Life Sci Alliance 2025 – we identified the AD risk factor iRhom2 (inactive rhomboid 2) as a modifier of ADAM17-mediated shedding of TREM2 in microglia. We found that loss of iRhom2 enhances TREM2 signalling and microglial uptake of amyloid-β, suggesting that iRhom2 may be a potential therapeutic target to modulate TREM2 activity in Alzheimer’s disease. Read more about the work here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40081988/
3. In our recent article – Lourbopoulos & Müller et al., Mol Cell Protemics 2025 – we developed an enhanced technique for CSF collection from individual mice that yields larger, contamination-free samples suitable for proteomic analysis. This approach revealed that while CSF proteomes are stable in healthy mice, Alzheimer’s model mice (5xFAD) show marked changes, including elevated neurodegeneration and microglial activation markers like NfL and TREM2, supporting its broad application in preclinical neurodegeneration research. Read more about the work here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40157722/

Congratulations to Marlene Assfalg on the successful defence of her doctoral thesis.

We wish her all the best as she takes the next step in her career in industry, particularly with the start at a company in Mainz.

All the best for this new chapter

Congratulations on your successful PhD defense and on receiving your doctoral degree, Laura Isabelle Hofmann! We wish you all the best for your future career and every success in your endeavors. We're especially glad to have you in the lab for another eight months.

Hannah has successfully defended her Master thesis under the supervision of Iva Stojkovska. Congratulations on receiving a very good grade for the exam!

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 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.