Sabina Tahirovic

Dr. Sabina Tahirovic is a Group Leader at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Munich, Germany. Her research focuses on microglial dysfunction and alterations in neuronal and glial signaling pathways contributing to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease (AD), Niemann-Pick type C (NPC), and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

Using ex vivo organotypic brain slice co-cultures and in vivo transgenic mouse models, her team investigates how microglial cell activation affects amyloid plaque clearance in AD. They developed a co-culture model where aged AD brain slices are combined with young wild-type slices, demonstrating that soluble factors from healthy microglia can restore phagocytic activity in diseased cells, reducing amyloid pathology. This work aims to identify therapeutic targets for modulating microglial behavior in neurodegeneration.

Her research also explores shared mechanisms between lysosomal storage diseases and neurodegenerative disorders, particularly NPC (Juvenile AD), a condition affecting children and young adults with AD-like pathology. Cell biological, biochemical, and proteomic analyses are used to dissect molecular alterations in different brain cell types during disease progression.

Contact details: Feodor-Lynen-Str. 17, 81377 Munich; sabina.tahirovic@dzne.de; +49 89 4400-46438.