Manuel Friese

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS

We seek to better understand the development and progression of neuroimmunological and neuroinfectious diseases with particular emphasis on multiple sclerosis to translate molecular findings into drug treatment and improve clinical care. In order to achieve this goal, we systematically study immunology, neurobiology and patient care using a wide methodological spectrum.

The main scientific goals are:

• Translational research – to transform biology into effective therapeutic agents for neuroimmunological diseases:
  • to study the aetiology and pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis and other neuroimmunological and neuroinfectious diseases
  • to investigate the immune system and the central nervous system and their interactions to understand mechanisms of immune cell dysregulation, neurodegeneration and neuroprotection
  • to develop new drugs and behavioural interventions for multiple sclerosis patients and to test them in multiple sclerosis treatment trials

BIOGRAPHY

Manuel Friese studied medicine at the Universities of Hamburg, Oxford and University College London and received his MD in 2001. He completed his neurology training at the Universities of Tübingen and Hamburg. After his postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford from 2004–2008, he started his laboratory as an Emmy Noether research fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the University of Hamburg. Since 2013 he has been consultant neurologist and Professor of Neuroimmunology at the University of Hamburg and since 2014 director of the Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (INIMS). His laboratory focuses on inflammatory and neurodegenerative aspects of neuroimmunological and neuroinfectious diseases.