Author: brandta

Dr. Brandt was at the CCC-Neuro laboratory in November 2018 to kick off the joint NICJAGER study. In the NeuroInflammatory Conditions in JApan and GERmany registry study we are prospectively collecting clinical and imaging data as well as biosamples to study pathology an phenotypes in neuromyelitis optica, multiple sclerosis and related disorders.

Data collection will be performed using RedCap hosted by the Berlin Institute of Health. Image analysis will be performed at the CCC-Neuro laboratory using analysis pipeline from Berlin and Chiba University.

ECTRIMS is the world’s largest scientific and clinical conference focussing on autoimmune neuroinflammatory disorders like multiple sclerosis. This year’s ECTRIMS was from October 10th to 12th in Berlin, and here we presented our ongoing research at the CCC-Neuro laboratory. After discussing ongoing peojects in the lab, the colleagues from Chiba and Berlin also experienced foreign food from a small region in southern Germany called Bavaria!

Berlin PhD student Karen Otte worked at the CCC-Neuro laboratory on “Objective movement analysis with perceptive visual computing” from June to August 2018. The project was funded by the JSPS Summer Program. Ms. Otte, who is a computer scientist with image analysis focus, compared typical neurological assessments used to investigate motor function between Japanese and German healthy subjects using software developed in Berlin and now provided by technology startup Motognosis.

From May 9th to 12th 2018 a large delegation of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin visited Chiba University for the joint signing of the collaboration agreement and the solemn inauguration of the joint “Charité Chiba Collaborative Laboratory for researching Chronic Neuroinflammation“, CCC-Neuro Laboratory, at Chiba University.

We toured the Medical Faculty of the Chiba University together with our dean Prof. Axel Radlach Pries and attended the official reception with the president of Chiba University Mr. Takeshi Tokuhisa.

Signees of the collaboration agreement were Prof. Toshinori Nakayama, dean of Chiba University, represented by Prof. Hiroshi Shirasawa, vice dean of research of Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Prof. Satoshi Kuwabara, director of the Department of Neurology at Chiba University, Prof. Axel Radlach Pries, dean of the board of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Prof. Friedemann Paul, director of the Clinical Neuroimmunology group at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

The laboratory will research differences between Japanese and German patients with autoimmune neuroinflammatory and neurologic disorders to gain understanding of the underlying pathologies. Projects of the laboratory will span immunological messaging cascades in neuroinflammatory disorders, retinal and brain neuroimaging, and motor function.

From Dec 4th to 8th, 2017, a delegation of neurologists and clinical scientists from Charité visited the Neurology and Ophthalmology departments at Chiba University in Japan. We toured the research and clinical facilities and discussed ways how to best implement a joint research lab at Chiba University.

We also visited the Tokyo offices of the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD), the German Centre for Research and Innovation Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) to get a better understanding how to connect the Japanese and German research funding concepts.

Many thanks especially to Dorothea Mahnke from DWIH for the wonderful hospitality and many suggestions!

During a visit to the German Embassy in Tokyo we had the chance to speak to Mr. Ingo Höllein, Counsellor Science and Technology at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and learn about relevant scientific initiatives.

From June 27th till June 30th a group of neurologists, ophthalmologists and nurses visited the Neuroimmunology group at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Goal was to update each other on the infrastructure, facilities and procedures found at the partner institution.