Welcome to the MzH Lab

The laboratory of Gerd Meyer zu Hörste, MD (the MzH lab) is part of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Münster and the University of Münster in Germany. We employ a wide range of experimental techniques to study disease mechanisms in neuro-immunological disorders. The specific aims of our research are:

1. Understand the interaction between T helper cells and parenchymal cells of the nervous system.

2. Characterize the interaction between recently discovered subsets of T helper cells with B cells in autoimmunity of the nervous system.

3. Define how the brain microenvironment shapes the phenotype and function of immune cells.

Areas of special interest include multiple sclerosis, inflammatory myopathy and inflammatory neuropathy and their animal models. In addition, we actively develop novel techniques and adapt them to neuroimmunological diseases including high-throughput single cell expression profiling and proteomic profiling.

Datasets

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All Clinical Neurology scRNAseq

Primary CNS lymphoma

Single-cell atlas of primary CNS lymphoma

Shiny app Manuscript

Stroke

Stroke-specific myeloid cells in the brain parenchyma and pia

Shiny app Manuscript

Uveitis

Single cell atlas of intraocular leukocytes in HLA-B27-positive and -negative uveitis

Shiny app Manuscript

Meninges

Single-cell profiling of CNS border compartment

Shiny app mouse Shiny app rat Manuscript

Neuro-COVID

Single-cell atlas of cerebrospinal fluid in Neuro-COVID and controls

Shiny app Manuscript

Murine peripheral nerve

Redefining the heterogeneity of peripheral nerve cells in health and autoimmunity

Shiny app naive mouse Shiny app inflam mouse Manuscript

Neurosarcoidosis

Differentiating neurosarcoidosis from multiple sclerosis using flow cytometry.

Shiny app Manuscript

Featured Publications

Intratumor heterogeneity and T cell exhaustion in primary CNS lymphoma

BACKGROUND: Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare lymphoma of the central nervous system, usually of diffuse large …

Michael Heming, Svea Haessner, Jolien Wolbert, I-Na Lu, Xiaolin Li, Benjamin Brokinkel, Michael Müther, Markus Holling, Walter Stummer, Christian Thomas, Andreas Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Flavia de Faria, Marlon Stoeckius, Stephan Hailfinger, Georg Lenz, Kornelius Kerl, Heinz Wiendl, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste, Oliver M. Grauer

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Stroke induces disease-specific myeloid cells in the brain parenchyma and pia

We deeply characterize tissue-resident leukocytes in meninges and brain parenchyma and discover that leukocytes respond differently to stroke depending on their site of residence. We thereby discover a unique phenotype of myeloid cells exclusive to the brain after stroke. These stroke-associated myeloid cells partially resemble neurodegenerative disease-associated microglia. They are mainly of resident microglial origin, partially conserved in humans and exhibit a lipid-phagocytosing phenotype. Blocking markers specific for these cells partially ameliorates stroke outcome thus providing a potential therapeutic target.

Carolin Beuker, David Schafflick, Jan-Kolja Strecker, Michael Heming, Xiaolin Li, Jolien Wolbert, Antje Schmidt-Pogoda, Christian Thomas, Tanja Kuhlmann, Irene Aranda-Pardos, Noelia A-Gonzalez, Praveen Ashok Kumar, Yves Werner, Ertugrul Kilic, Dirk M. Hermann, Heinz Wiendl, Ralf Stumm, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste, Jens Minnerup

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Cerebrospinal fluid flow cytometry distinguishes psychosis spectrum disorders from differential diagnoses

We performed basic CSF analysis and multi-dimensional flow cytometry of CSF and blood cells from 59 patients with primary psychotic disorders in comparison to inflammatory and non-inflammatory controls. We found an expansion of monocytes in the blood and CSF of psychosis patients. A machine learning model incorporating blood and CSF parameters differentated psychosis from non-inflammatory controls better than individual paramaters.

Saskia Räuber, Michael Heming, Jonathan Repple, Tillmann Ruland, Rebecca Kuelby, Andreas Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Catharina C Gross, Volker Arolt, Bernhard Baune, Tim Hahn, Udo Dannlowski, Sven G Meuth, Nico Melzer, Heinz Wiendl, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste

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Single-cell profiling of CNS border compartment leukocytes reveals that B cells and their progenitors reside in non-diseased meninges.

Based on single-cell transcriptomics, we here identify a highly location-specific composition and expression profile of tissue-resident leukocytes in CNS border compartments featuring B cells and their progenitors in the dura as an unexpected site of B cell residence.

David Schafflick, Jolien Wolbert, Michael Heming, Christian Thomas, Maike Hartlehnert, Anna-Lena Börsch, Alessio Ricci, Sandra Martín-Salamanca, Xiaolin Li, I-Na Lu, Mathias Pawlak, Jens Minnerup, Jan-Kolja Strecker, Thomas Seidenbecher, Sven G Meuth, Andres Hidalgo, Arthur Liesz, Heinz Wiendl, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste

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Neurological Manifestations of COVID-19 Feature T Cell Exhaustion and Dedifferentiated Monocytes in Cerebrospinal Fluid

We utilized single-cell sequencing and examined the immune cell profiles from the cerebrospinal fluid of Neuro-COVID patients and discovered an expansion of dedifferentiated monocytes and exhausted CD4+ T cells.

Michael Heming, Xiaolin Li, Saskia Räuber, Anne K Mausberg, Anna-Lena Börsch, Maike Hartlehnert, Arpita Singhal, I-Na Lu, Michael Fleischer, Fabian Szepanowski, Oliver Witzke, Thorsten Brenner, Ulf Dittmer, Nir Yosef, Christroph Kleinschnitz, Heinz Wiendl, Mark Stettner, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste

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Recent Publications

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Michael Heming, Anna-Lena Börsch, Heinz Wiendl, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste (2022). High-dimensional investigation of the cerebrospinal fluid to explore and monitor CNS immune responses.. Genome Medicine.

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Maren Kasper, Michael Heming, David Schafflick, Xiaolin Li, Tobias Lautwein, Melissa Meyer Zu Horste, Dirk Bauer, Karoline Walscheid, Heinz Wiendl, Karin Loser, Arnd Heiligenhaus, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste (2021). Intraocular dendritic cells characterize HLA-B27-associated acute anterior uveitis. eLife.

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Maike Hartlehnert, Anna-Lena Börsch, Xiaolin Li, Miriam Burmeister, Hanna Gerwien, David Schafflick, Michael Heming, I-Na Lu, Venu Narayanan, Jan-Kolja Strecker, Anna Kolz, Anneli Peters, Gregory F Wu, Heinz Wiendl, Lydia Sorokin, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste (2021). Bcl6 controls meningeal Th17-B cell interaction in murine neuroinflammation.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

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Michael Heming, Lisa Lohmann, Andreas Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Tobias Brix, Catharina C Gross, Heinz Wiendl, Luisa Klotz, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste (2020). Leukocyte profiles in blood and CSF distinguish neurosarcoidosis from multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neuroimmunology.

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Jolien Wolbert, Xiaolin Li, Michael Heming, Anne K Mausberg, Dagmar Akkermann, Clara Frydrychowicz, Robert Fledrich, Linda Groeneweg, Christian Schulz, Mark Stettner, Noelia Alonso Gonzalez, Heinz Wiendl, Ruth Stassart, Gerd Meyer zu Hörste (2020). Redefining the heterogeneity of peripheral nerve cells in health and autoimmunity.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Cite Shiny app naive mouse Shiny app mouse Manuscript

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Popular Topics

blood Clinical Neurology CNS border compartments compartments CSF flow cytometry immune cell profiling inflammatory neuropathies inflammatory neuropathy machine learning meninges microglial cells multiple sclerosis neuroimmunology Neuroscience peripheral nerve schwann cells scRNAseq stroke T cell exhaustion

Meet the Team

Anna-Lena Börsch

PhD Student

David Schafflick

PhD student

Gerd Meyer zu Hörste

Attending Neurologist, Principial investigator

I-Na Lu

PostDoc

Julia Tietz

Technical assistant

Louisa Müller-Miny

Neurology resident

Luca Marongiu

Master student

Martin Häring

PostDoc

Michael Heming

Neurology resident

Sheng-Hsiang Shen

PhD student

Svea Haessner

Neurology resident

Timm Kühnel

PhD Student

Funding

Current:

Previous:

Contact

• gerd.mzh@uni-muenster.de
• Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Münster, 48149