On Demand Webinar: Ask the Expert: Immunological Responses to Stroke

Prof. Dr. Arthur Liesz, Professor of Experimental Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich

Arthur Liesz is a clinician-scientist who has received his training in neurology at the University of Heidelberg Medical Center, in addition he was trained in experimental immunology at the German Cancer Research Institute (DKFZ). His research interest is on immunological aspects of acute brain injury, working on the topic of brain-immune interaction after acute brain injuries for more than a decade. The research encompasses both sides of brain-immune interaction after stroke: the secondary neuroinflammatory reaction to brain damage and the impact of brain injury on the peripheral immune homeostasis. His work provided the first description on the key role of regulatory T cells in limiting an overshooting immune reaction after acute brain injury (Liesz et al., Nature Medicine, 2009).

His laboratory performed preclinical studies (e.g. Liesz et al., Brain, 2011) which have in the meanwhile led to a recently completed clinical Phase II study (ACTION trial). More recently, Dr. Liesz’ lab focuses on the contribution of the gut microbiota to prime the post-ischemic neuroinflammatory response and has described for the first time a bi-directional link between the brain and gut microbiota in acute brain ischemia (e.g. Singh et al., J Neuroscience, 2016). Dr. Liesz is currently heading the "Laboratory of Stroke-Immunology" at the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research in Munich, Germany.