Immunological mechanisms of post-stroke dysfunction and recovery of neurovascular coupling
Ischemic stroke is one of the most common causes of disability and death in the EU. Improvements in treatment and prevention of ischemic stroke have reduced this burden, but consequently, patients living with chronic post-stroke conditions are increasing in number. Addressing this emergent public health problem will require novel rehabilitation interventions at the clinical level. Recovery after stroke correlates closely with cerebral vascular function, such that patients with dysfunction of vascular reactivity exhibit significant functional impairment. On the other side, inflammation in autoimmune and infectious diseases has been demonstrated to also result in dysfunction of cerebral blood flow regulation. However, a potential mechanistic link between the post-stroke inflammatory response and chronically impaired vascular dysfunction after stroke has yet not been studied in detail. Therefore, the goal of this project is to identify the impact of cerebral, neuroinflammatory and systemic innate immune responses to vascular dysfunction after experimental stroke. 
To achieve this goal, under the supervision of Dr. Arthur Liesz at the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, I will learn to specifically target immune cell populations, analyze chronic functional outcomes after stroke and gain expertise in performing in vivo multimodal imaging. Dr. Liesz runs an interdisciplinary highly collaborative research program within the conceptual framework of stroke-immunology. I will be able to contribute my previously acquired expertise in neurovascular function and in vivo vascular imaging for the success of this project. The Marie Sklodowska-Curie individual fellowship (MSC IF) will allow me to obtain the required methodological knowledge, access to critical infrastructure and collaboration partners in order to achieve this interdisciplinary and ambitious objective.