Róisín McManus

Dr. Róisín McManus serves as a Group Leader within the Career Development Fellow Programme at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and is associated with the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn's Medical Faculty. Her research focuses on understanding how microglial metabolic changes and immune signaling converge to alter disease progression in neurodegenerative conditions.

Dr. McManus's research program investigates the role of microglia as the brain's resident immune cells, particularly examining their innate immune responses in neurodegenerative disease development. Her laboratory explores microglial immunometabolism in cellular function regulation and how environmental factors like Western diet drive neuroinflammation. Using transgenic animal models, primary cultures, human iPSCs, and clinical samples, her multi-omic approach addresses critical gaps in understanding how impaired microglial signaling in aging leads to chronic inflammation that accelerates neurodegenerative diseases.

Based on her published work, Dr. McManus's research demonstrates a strong emphasis on NLRP3 inflammasome pathways in Alzheimer's disease pathology. Her 2024 publication with Latz provides a schematic representation of this activation process, indicating her contributions to mapping key immune mechanisms in neurodegeneration. This work is particularly significant given the current lack of preventive treatments for neurodegenerative conditions.

Dr. McManus leads an active research laboratory investigating how microglial dysfunction affects neighboring neurons and astrocytes in the central nervous system. Her team's experimental approach aims to identify novel immune-targeted therapies that could provide better, patient-specific treatment options for individuals with inflammatory or neurodegenerative conditions.