Prof. Dr. med. Frank Heppner

Scientific Scope

The research group is active in the field of experimental and translational neuropathology & neuroscience focusing on immunological aspects of neurological disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases, mechanisms of immunotherapeutic approaches, impact of neuroinflammation on systemic metabolism and biology of microglia.

Group Members

neuropathologie.charite.de/en/research/neurodegenerative_diseases/principal_investigator/

Most important Awards, Grants or Scientific Achievements

• 2003 Pfizer-Award for Neurosciences and Diseases of the Nervous System, Switzerland
• 2003 Research fellowship of the Leopoldina-Foundation
• 2006 Siegenthaler-Habilitation Award, Universität Zürich, Switzerland
• 2010 Spokesman of the SFB TRR 43 "The brain as a target of inflammatory processes"

Selected References

• Meinhardt, J., Radke, J., Dittmayer, C., Franz, J., Thomas, C., Mothes, R., Laue, M., Schneider, J., Brünink, S., Greuel, S., Lehmann, M., Hassan, O., Aschman, T., Schumann, E., Chua, R. L., Conrad, C., Eils, R., Stenzel, W., Windgassen, M., Rößler, L., … Heppner, F. L. (2021) "Olfactory transmucosal SARS-CoV-2 invasion as a port of central nervous system entry in individuals with COVID-19." Nature neuroscience, 24(2), 168–175.
• Wagner, L. K., Gilling, K. E., Schormann, E., Kloetzel, P. M., Heppner, F. L., Krüger, E., & Prokop, S. (2017) "Immunoproteasome deficiency alters microglial cytokine response and improves cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease-like APPPS1 mice." Acta neuropathologica communications, 5(1), 52.
• Kühnen, P., Handke, D., Waterland, R. A., Hennig, B. J., Silver, M., Fulford, A. J., Dominguez-Salas, P., Moore, S. E., Prentice, A. M., Spranger, J., Hinney, A., Hebebrand, J., Heppner, F. L., Walzer, L., Grötzinger, C., Gromoll, J., Wiegand, S., Grüters, A., & Krude, H. (2016) "Interindividual Variation in DNA Methylation at a Putative POMC Metastable Epiallele Is Associated with Obesity." Cell metabolism, 24(3), 502–509.
• Lehmann, S. M., Krüger, C., Park, B., Derkow, K., Rosenberger, K., Baumgart, J., Trimbuch, T., Eom, G., Hinz, M., Kaul, D., Habbel, P., Kälin, R., Franzoni, E., Rybak, A., Nguyen, D., Veh, R., Ninnemann, O., Peters, O., Nitsch, R., Heppner, F. L., … Lehnardt, S. (2012) "An unconventional role for miRNA: let-7 activates Toll-like receptor 7 and causes neurodegeneration." Nature neuroscience, 15(6), 827–835.
• Locatelli, G., Wörtge, S., Buch, T., Ingold, B., Frommer, F., Sobottka, B., Krüger, M., Karram, K., Bühlmann, C., Bechmann, I., Heppner, F. L., Waisman, A., & Becher, B. (2012) "Primary oligodendrocyte death does not elicit anti-CNS immunity." Nature neuroscience, 15(4), 543–550.
• Pantelyushin, S., Haak, S., Ingold, B., Kulig, P., Heppner, F. L., Navarini, A. A., & Becher, B. (2012) "Rorγt+ innate lymphocytes and γδ T cells initiate psoriasiform plaque formation in mice." The Journal of clinical investigation, 122(6), 2252–2256.