[FG] Yaldizli Özgür

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating, and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. It is the most common non-traumatic cause of disability in young adults. The pathobiology involves both inflammatory and neurodegenerative mechanisms affecting white and gray matter. These mechanisms are heterogeneous—just like the disease itself. At the onset, it is nearly impossible to predict the individual prognosis of a patient with MS.

Currently, more than a dozen disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are approved for the treatment of MS. These therapies have different mechanisms of action and varying degrees of efficacy in reducing relapse risk and preserving neurological function. However, their effect on disability progression remains limited at best.

The goal of our research group is to disentangle the heterogeneity of multiple sclerosis by developing new biomarkers to quantify disease pathology, understand the mechanisms of disability progression, and investigate the comparative effectiveness of disease-modifying therapies on clinical outcomes in real-world setting.

To address these questions, we use data from the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Cohort Study—the largest multicenter observational study on MS and related neuroinflammatory diseases in Switzerland.

Our research group is embedded within the Research Center for Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neuroscience Basel (RC2NB; Prof. Ludwig Kappos, Prof. Christina Granziera) and collaborates closely with the following groups:

·       The Clinical, Cellular, and Molecular Neuroimmunology Research Group (Prof. Tobias Derfuss)

·       The Translational Biomarker Research Group (Prof. Jens Kuhle)

·       The Experimental Neuroimmunology Research Group (Prof. Anne-Katrin Pröbstel)

·       The Neuroimaging Group (Prof. Christina Granziera)

·       The Clinical Trial Unit of the University Hospital Basel and the University of Basel (Dr. Pascal Benkert, Dr. Sabine Schädelin, Dr. Lisa Hofer)

·       The Digital Biomarker Research Group (Dr. Jannis Müller)

·       The Neurostatus Research Group (PD Dr. Marcus D’Souza)

·       The Pragmatic Trial Research Group (PD Dr. Lars Hemkens)