Each year, the German Society for Immunology (DGfI) recognizes young scientists who have made an outstanding contribution in the field of immunology. This year, Dr. Beatrice Wasser, a Postdoc in the group of Prof. Frauke Zipp and Prof. Stefan Bittner in the Department of Neurology, was award the Herbert Fischer Prize for Neuroimmunology for her investigation of the mechanism by which cells of the central nervous system (CNS) can control autoreactive T lymphocytes. Dr. Wasser was able to show, for the first time, that myeloid cells in the CNS can trap and kill invading pathogenic T cells. This novel defense pathway could potentially be exploited, leading to a new therapy for T cell-induced autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

This work was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine:
Wasser B, Luchtman D, Löffel J, Robohm K, Birkner K, Stroh A, Vogelaar CF, Zipp F, Bittner S. CNS-localized myeloid cells capture living invading T cells during neuroinflammation. J Exp Med 2020; 217(6): e20190812.
The official press release of the DGfI is available here.