Siegert Group

Microglia-Neuron Interaction

Identifying brain function has primarily concentrated on how environmental signals are encoded within a complex neuronal network—the impact of the immune system was mostly overlooked. The Siegert group focuses on how neurons and microglia interact with each other and how malfunctions within this relationship affect neuronal circuit formation and function in health and disease.
Microglia are the CNS-resident macrophages, which continuously sense their neuronal environment also beyond just pathogenic insults. The Siegert group and others have shown that microglia adapt to defined environmental cues and can severely interfere with well-established neuronal circuit elements such as synapse but also extracellular matrix remodeling. Yet, the scientists are only starting to identify these cues, how they drive a microglia response, and which consequences those have on neuronal function in the adult brain. The goal of the Siegert group is to dissect the impact of defined environmental cues like drugs, extracellular matrix, sex, and metabolic insults, and how those cues modulate microglia response to either be beneficial or detrimental to neuronal circuit function and behavior.
The Siegert group combines live imaging approaches with electrophysiological/cellular, molecular, and behavior analysis in the preclinical and human iPSC models. Furthermore, the group incorporates strategies of biophysics, mathematics, and machine learning in its research line.