What connects viruses with Alzheimer's?
Prof Dr Andrea Maisner
As part of the rotating Infect-Net lecture series, Prof Dr Ina Maja Vorberg from the German center for neurodegenerative diseases (DZNE) in Bonn, visited Prof Dr Andrea Maisner at the Institute of Virology, Marburg, on 22 May 2025.
In her extremely exciting and inspiring lecture, Ina Vorberg described her scientific journey from prion research to the study of amyloid in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. In doing so, she impressively presented the role of viral glycoprotein and endogenous retroviruses in the spread of amyloid, which was previously unknown to many. This not only stimulated intensive discussions, but also laid an important foundation for further scientific exchange between the infection researchers.
Lecture title: ‘Neurodegeneration goes viral: How exogenous and endogenous viruses contribute to the intercellular spreading of pathologic protein misfolding.’
For further reading
- Liu S, Heumüller SE, Hossinger A, Müller SA, Buravlova O, Lichtenthaler SF, Denner P, foothill IN. Reactivated endogenous retroviruses promote protein aggregates spreading. Nat Commun. 2023 Aug 18;14(1):5034. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40632-for example, PMID: 37596282; PMCID: PMC10439213.
- Leblanc P, foothill IN. Viruses in neurodegenerative diseases: More than just suspects in crimes. PLoS Pathog. 2022 Aug 4;18(8):e1010670. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010670. PMID: 35925897; PMCID: PMC9352104.
- Heumüller SE, foothill IN. Möglicher Einfluss von Viren auf die Ausbreitung von Proteinaggregaten. Biospektrum (Heidelberg). 2022;28(2):162-164. German. doi: 10.1007/s12268-022-1730-9. Epub 2022 Mar 28. PMID: 35369113; PMCID: PMC8960702.
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