Research

This junior research group studies the molecular basis of neuroimmunological diseases, with a focus on multiple sclerosis, from the genetic factors underlying disease susceptibility to the mechanisms driving disease course. We combine the analysis of complex, large-scale omics data sets with cutting-edge functional genomics to identify and validate the molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases.

Our work integrates genetic, transcriptomic, epigenetic and proteomic data, with detailed longitudinal clinical information. Building on this multi-omic foundation, we are extending our work toward causal inference, using targeted gene editing in cellular models to establish which of the implicated mechanisms are functionally relevant. Our aim is both to advance the mechanistic understanding of these diseases and to develop predictive models for disease trajectory.

We further draw on large-scale healthcare data to characterise the clinical course of MS across Bavaria, in collaboration with external partners. 

The group collaborates closely with clinical and preclinical partners at TUM University Hospital and the Technical University of Munich, and is active in several national and international research consortia.

Junior Group Leader

Christiane Gasperi studied Medicine at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, as well as Bioinformatics (BSc) at LMU and the Technical University of Munich (TUM). She earned her medical doctorate on antibody-mediated autoimmunity of the neuromuscular junction in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Stephan Kröger at the Institute of Physiology, Department of Physiological Genomics, LMU Munich. In 2014, she began her clinical and research training at the Department of Neurology, TUM University Hospital, joining the research group of Prof. Bernhard Hemmer. In 2019, she was a visiting scientist in the Department of Neurology at Yale University, working with Prof. Chris Cotsapas. She completed her specialty training in Neurology in 2021 and obtained the venia legendi in Neurology (Habilitation) in 2022. From 2020 to 2024, she was a fellow of the Hertie Network of Excellence in Clinical Neuroscience, funded by the Hertie Foundation.

She leads her own junior research group, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), since July 2021.