The Koch lab

!!!! The Koch lab has moved !!!! We are now located in Mannheim. More Information will follow shortly

also see: https://www.zi-mannheim.de/forschung/hitbr.html

Diseases of the nervous system, such as neurodegenerative diseases, neurodevelopmental diseases or neuropsychiatric disorders are characterized by pathophysiological changes leading to perturbed function or degeneration of individual cells of the brain or spinal cord. Neurodegenerative Disorders including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Frontotemporal Lobe Dementia (FTLD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Polyglutamine Disorders (PolyQD) have significantly increased with the progressive aging of the human population, implying that they may well constitute the most significant medical challenge of the 21st century. In the past, research has mostly been limited to animal models or human cell lines that do not accurately represent the human neurons or glia affected. The advent of cellular reprogramming has for the first time opened a fascinating new avenue to study disease pathogenesis directly in authentic human neuronal cultures and under endogenous expression levels of the participating players.

The Koch lab employs induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)- and direct cell conversion-based systems to study morphological, biochemical and functional changes associated with brain development, aging and disorders of the brain. Interfacing fundamental stem cell biology and neural differentiation techniques with translational research and biochemistry, we aim to generate new insights into how the human brain develops, how a healthy homeostasis is maintained, how the brain ages and how neural malfunctions affect neural brain physiology.

We are located at the Capmus of the University Clinics Bonn (Venusberg) at the Life&Brain Building.