Gabor Petzold

Professor Gabor Petzold serves as Director of Clinical Research at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Chair of the Department of Vascular Neurology at University Hospital Bonn, affiliated with the University of Bonn. His research focuses on translational and clinical aspects of neurodegenerative diseases with vascular components.

His primary research interests include:

• The role of reactive astrocytes in Alzheimer's disease
• The role of astrocytes and glial scar formation in acute stroke
• Neuroinflammation in white matter in cerebral small-vessel disease
• Pathophysiology of cerebral microinfarcts and microhemorrhages
• Cellular mechanisms of blood-brain barrier dysfunction
• Interactions of genetic and acquired risk factors in Alzheimer's disease

Professor Petzold employs advanced methodologies including in vivo multiphoton microscopy, complex behavioral assays, cell-specific transcriptome analyses, ultra-high field MRI, and bioinformatic analyses to investigate disease mechanisms.

His clinical research program focuses on vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia. He leads or participates in several major DZNE studies:

• DZNE-CAA - Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Study
• DEMDAS - Mechanisms of Dementia After Stroke
• DESCRIBE - Clinical Registry Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases
• DANCER - Recruitment Pool for Study Participants
• CAA-HIFI 7T-TGA - High-resolution MRI imaging in TGA patients

Professor Petzold maintains close collaboration between the DZNE Clinical Research Platform, Clinical Trials Unit, and the Department of Vascular Neurology at University Hospital Bonn, facilitating research rotations for physicians interested in neuroscience research.