The junior research group focuses on the pathomechanisms of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, aiming to identify glial-derived determinants of disease trajectories as potential therapeutic targets. We combine cutting-edge biomolecular approaches with high-performance analytical technologies to investigate disease mechanisms in experimental models of CNS disorders. 

Ali Afzali is a clinician scientist with postdoctoral training in Prof. Dr. Thomas Korn's group at ENI and he is currently establishing the junior research group Immune-Glia Interactions in CNS Disorders.

After completing his medical studies at Westfälische Wilhelms University (WWU) Münster in late 2016, Dr. Afzali earned his medical doctoral degree on idiopathic inflammatory myopathies in the lab of Prof. Dr. Dr. Sven Meuth. Shortly thereafter, he began his clinical and research training at the Department of Neurology at University Hospital rechts der Isar and ENI, which he successfully completed in early 2025 by obtaining the venia legendi in Neurology (Habilitation). Subsequently, he joined the group of Prof. Dr. Randall J. Platt at ETH Zurich to specialize in in vivo gene perturbation in experimental animal models of CNS disorders.

His work has been recognized by numerous awards, including Young Investigator Awards from the Roman, Marga and Mareille Sobek Foundation, the German Society of Immunology (Fritz-and-Ursula-Melchers Postdoctoral Prize), the European Charcot Foundation, and the Deutsche Hirnstiftung.