Central Nervous System Autoimmune Disease

Prof. Merkler is interested in autoimmune and infectious disease conditions of the CNS. In particular, he is focusing on the mechanism that governs T cell differentiation under such conditions and on tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM) in the CNS. With regard to the latter, he aims to understand how these cells are implicated in protective and pathological immune response in the CNS and how they contribute to compartmentalized inflammation in the CNS. In parallel, his research focuses on the molecular underpinnings of how various subsets of immune cells can interact and drive neuronal damage during neuroinflammation. For his research, he is using a combination of various well-defined infectious and autoimmune model systems together with molecular and immunological tools. Moreover, he is investigating signatures in tissue samples to confirm key findings in human disease conditions.

Specific expertise

Neuropathology and Neuroimmunology
CNS viral infection and autoimmune diseases

Selected publications

Steinbach K, Vincenti I, Egervari K, Kreutzfeldt M, van der Meer F, Page N, Klimek B, Rossitto-Borlat I, Di Liberto G, Muschaweckh A, Wagner I, Hammad K, Stadelmann-Nessler C, Korn T, Hartley O, Pinschewer DD, Merkler D. Brain-resident memory T cells generated early in life predispose to autoimmune disease in mice. Science Translational Medicine, 2019 Jun 26;11(498)

Di Liberto G, Pantelyushin S, Kreutzfeldt M, Page N, Musardo S, Coras R, Steinbach K, Vincenti I, Klimek B, Lingner T, Salinas G, Lin-Marq N, Staszewski O, Joana Costa Jordão M, Wagner I, Egervari K, Mack M, Bellone C, Blümcke I, Prinz M, Pinschewer DD, Merkler D. Neurons under T cell attack coordinate phagocyte-mediated synaptic stripping. Cell, 2018 Aug 28

Page N, Klimek B, De Roo M, Steinbach K, Soldati H, Lemeille S, Wagner I, Kreutzfeldt K, Di Liberto G, Vincenti I, LIngner T, Salinas G, Brück W, Simons M, Murr R, Kay J, Zehn D, Pinschewer DD, Merkler D. TOX expression governs the encephalitogenic potential of microbe-induced autoreactive CD8+ T cells. Immunity. 2018 May 15;48(5):937-950

Kallert S, Darbre S, Bonilla W, Kreutzfeldt M, Page N, Müller P, Kreuzaler M, Lu M, Favre S, Kreppel F, Löhning M, Luther S, Zippelius A, Merkler D*, and Pinschewer D*. Replicating viral vector platform exploits alarmin signalsfor potent CD8+ T cell-mediated tumor immunotherapy. Nat. Commun. 2017 May 26;8: *Co-senior author

Steinbach K, Vincenti I, Kreutzfeldt M, Page N, Muschaweckh A, Drexler I, Pinschewer D, Korn T, Merkler D. Brain-resident memory T cells represent an autonomous cytotoxic barrier to viral infection. J Exp Med. 2016 July 4

28 Oct 2020

AUTOIMMUNITY AND INFLAMMATION

GROUP LEADER

Prof. Doron MERKLER

UNIGE Faculty of medicine
Department of Pathology and Immunology
CMU
Rue Michel-Servet 1
CH-1211 Genève 4

Doron.Merkler(at)unige.ch
+41 22 379 49 43

Lab webpages (Department of Pathology and Immunology)

Short Bio

Doron Merkler, MD, is a Full Professor and neuropathologist within the division of clinical pathology and heads a research group in the Department of Pathology and Immunology (PATIM) at the University of Geneva.

He graduated in 2000 and accomplished his medical doctorate in 2002 at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Zurich. Subsequently, he obtained an SNSF scholarship and participated in the postgraduate course of experimental medicine and biology and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Brain Research Institute at the University of Zurich. He continued his medical training in neuropathology at the University Centre of Göttingen in Germany, and worked as a postdoc at the Institute of Experimental Immunology at the University of Zurich. In 2008 he received his specialist title and accomplished the habilitation in 2009. In 2010 he was awarded an SNSF Professorship and in 2016 he was tenured as Associate Professor and 2020 as Full Professor. Furthermore, he works as senior physician as neuropathologist in the division of clinical pathology at the University Hospitals of Geneva. His research focuses on the immunopathogenesis of inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system.