Anna-Sophia Wahl is a Professor of Neuroanatomy and principal investigator at the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) at LMU University Hospital. She focuses on understanding cellular mechanisms of repair in the brain after injury (e.g., a stroke) and how these mechanisms can be further enhanced to promote recovery of lost brain functions.

The brain possesses the remarkable ability to launch self-repair mechanisms after damage – a prerequisite for restoring lost functions. In the ARISE (Activate Repair In StrokE) project, Anna-Sophia Wahl wants to discover fundamental principles of how the brain orchestrates the cellular response and how it can be further improved. Using state-of-the-art imaging technology and artificial intelligence, she plans to experimentally discover how individual neurons recode and reconnect after an injury, why some take part in repair processes while others do not, and how neural rewiring can be stimulated to promote the recovery of impaired functions.

“With the ARISE project, I will develop a novel experimental strategy to identify cellular mechanisms of neural repair which is the basis to develop novel approaches for chronic impairment after stroke,” says the neuroscientist. To study damage, repair, and behavior in connection with each other, she uses a mouse model she developed especially for this purpose. “This approach will also enable me to apply mathematical models that evaluate the efficiency of novel rehabilitation therapies for strokes and predict their results.”

This research will now be supported by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) of € 1.5 million for the next five years. The research grant is among the most prestigious awards of its kind in Europe.