Sabina Tahirovic

Dr. Sabina Tahirovic serves as a Group Leader at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Munich, where she directs research on microglial dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Niemann-Pick type C (NPC), and Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

Her research focuses on:

• Microglial phagocytic capacity and amyloid plaque clearance mechanisms in AD
• Development of ex vivo co-culture models ('brains in a dish') using aged AD and young wild-type brain slices
• Shared pathological mechanisms between lysosomal storage disorders and neurodegeneration
• Cell-specific alterations in neuronal-glial cross-talk during disease progression
• Therapeutic modulation of microglial immune responses for neuropathology mitigation

Her laboratory integrates primary cell isolation (neurons, astrocytes, microglia), organotypic brain slice cultures, transgenic mouse models, and multi-omics analyses to identify novel drug targets. Current work prioritizes enhancing beneficial microglial functions like phagocytosis through immunomodulation, with particular emphasis on NPC as a 'juvenile AD' model affecting pediatric populations.