On Thursday 12 December at 13:00, Linda Karin Margriet Sundvall Germeys defends her PhD dissertation entitled "Exploring possible disease mechanisms in blood and brain vasculature in Multiple Sclerosis".

Nearly 19,000 people in Denmark live with multiple sclerosis (MS), an unpredictable and chronic neuroinflammatory disease where the body's own immune system attacks the central nervous system. Understanding chronic inflammation is crucial, as it drives disease progression where current treatments show limited efficacy.

This research focuses on microvascular disturbances, which are increasingly recognized as a critical factor in neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases such as MS.

The PhD project is based on three studies:

1. Immunological analyses: The first study investigates the role of the cell membrane receptor CD46 in immune dysregulation in MS by analyzing cells from the peripheral immune system.
2. Advanced MRI techniques: The subsequent two studies utilize MRI to explore Microvascular disturbances in the brain and their link to nerve fiber damage and neurodegeneration.

The studies were conducted on a cross-sectional cohort of newly diagnosed MS patients compared to healthy controls.

Our findings highlight the need for longitudinal studies to further investigate the relationship between microvascular alterations and neurodegeneration.

The summary is written by the PhD student. 

The defence is public and takes place in the Merete Barker Auditorium, the Lakeside Theatres, Aarhus University. Please see the press release for more information. 

Contact

PhD student Linda Karin Margriet Sundvall Germeys
Mail: lkms@clin.au.dk 
Phone: 61663424

Read full press release