• For German
    research organisations
  • Research landscape
  • News and research areas
  • Your goal
  • Our service
Why Germany
  • R&D policy framework
  • Research infrastructure
  • Research funding system
Universities
  • Universities of applied sciences
Research institutes
  • Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
  • Helmholtz Association
  • Leibniz Association
  • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
  • Academies of sciences and humanities
  • Federal institutions
  • Länder institutions
  • Research infrastructure
  • Industrial research
Industrial research
Top universities
Research News
Latest Thinking – Making research visible
Global Health
Bioeconomy
InnoHealth
EnergInno
Future of Work
COVID-19 in Germany
Cancer Research
Bachelor or master
PhD
  • Good reasons
  • Two ways to get your PhD
  • Find your PhD position
  • How to apply for a PhD
  • Funding programmes
  • Funding organisations
  • Funding databases
  • Job portals
Postdoc
  • Good reasons
  • Career options & dual careers
  • Funding programmes
  • Funding organisations
  • Funding databases
  • Job portals
Advanced research
  • Good reasons
  • Career options & dual careers
  • Funding & awards
  • Funding organisations
  • Funding databases
  • Job portals
Research Position
  • Find a job
  • Potential employers
  • Research fields
Events & online talks
  • Events
  • Online talks
  • Innovation Week
Research news
Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletter 2022
  • Newsletter 2021
Our publications
Success stories
Link to German Institutions research organisations
  • Research landscape
    • Overview Research landscape
    • Why Germany
      • Overview Why Germany
      • R&D policy framework
      • Research infrastructure
        • Overview Research infrastructure
        • DESY – Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
        • DKRZ – German Climate Computing Centre
        • Research vessel Polarstern
        • FLASH – free-electron laser in Hamburg
      • Research funding system
        • Overview Research funding system
        • Government funding
        • How does government funding work?
    • Universities
      • Overview Universities
      • Universities of applied sciences
    • Research institutes
      • Overview Research institutes
      • Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
      • Helmholtz Association
      • Leibniz Association
      • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
      • Academies of sciences and humanities
      • Federal institutions
      • Länder institutions
      • Research infrastructure
      • Industrial research
    • Industrial research
    • Top universities
  • News and research areas
    • Overview News and research areas
    • Research News
    • Latest Thinking – Making research visible
    • Global Health
    • Bioeconomy
    • InnoHealth
    • EnergInno
    • Future of Work
    • COVID-19 in Germany
    • Cancer Research
  • Your goal
    • Overview Your goal
    • Bachelor or master
    • PhD
      • Overview PhD
      • Good reasons
      • Two ways to get your PhD
      • Find your PhD position
      • How to apply for a PhD
      • Funding programmes
      • Funding organisations
      • Funding databases
      • Job portals
    • Postdoc
      • Overview Postdoc
      • Good reasons
      • Career options & dual careers
        • Overview Career options & dual careers
        • Professorship
        • Postdoc positions
        • Junior research group leader
        • Researcher in industry
        • Research stays and visits
        • International collaborations
        • Dual careers
      • Funding programmes
      • Funding organisations
      • Funding databases
      • Job portals
    • Advanced research
      • Overview Advanced research
      • Good reasons
      • Career options & dual careers
        • Overview Career options & dual careers
        • Professorship
        • Visiting professorship & visiting lectureship
        • Leading a research group
        • Researcher in a company
        • Research stays and visits
        • International collaborations
        • Dual careers
      • Funding & awards
      • Funding organisations
      • Funding databases
      • Job portals
    • Research Position
      • Overview Research Position
      • Find a job
      • Potential employers
      • Research fields
        • Overview Research fields
        • Agriculture
        • Architecture
        • Earth Sciences
        • Engineering
        • Forestry
        • Law
        • Logistics
        • Pharmacy
  • Our service
    • Overview Our service
    • Events & online talks
      • Overview Events & online talks
      • Events
      • Online talks
        • Overview Online talks
        • Planning your research career in germany
        • The DAAD PRIME fellowship
        • Meet the Helmholtz Association
        • Learn more about the new Erasmus+ programme for PhD students
        • Interdisciplinary research
        • Global health research
        • Digital learning
        • Meet the German Research Foundation
        • Meet the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
        • Ask a professor
        • Postdoctoral Opportunities in Germany
        • Doctorate Opportunities in Germany
        • The German research landscape
        • Doing research in humanities
        • Women in science
        • Departmental research
        • Online talk: bioeconomy
        • Research opportunities for Indian scholars
        • Universities of Applied Sciences
        • German research clusters
        • Scientific start-ups in Germany
        • Artificial intelligence
        • Online talks for science administrators
        • Future of work
        • How is a research group structured?
        • How to do research in industry
        • Learn from first-hand experience!
        • Funding your research stay
        • Registration Process and Technical Requirements
      • Innovation Week
    • Research news
    • Newsletter
      • Overview Newsletter
      • Subscribe
      • Newsletter 2022
        • Overview Newsletter 2022
        • February 2022
        • June 2022
      • Newsletter 2021
        • Overview Newsletter 2021
        • December 2021
        • October 2021
        • August 2021
        • June 2021
        • April 2021
        • February 2021
    • Our publications
    • Success stories
  1. Home
  2. News & Research Areas
  3. Research News

News

Gaining insights into spastic paraplegia

FAU researchers are tracking down the causes

Rare diseases, as the name indicates, only affect a small part of the population. However, for those affected they are particularly challenging, often especially because research into such rare diseases tends to be less of a priority. One of these diseases is hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a disease that causes spasms and weakness in the leg muscles, increasingly affecting mobility as the disease progresses. Approximately 77,000 people across Europe suffer from the condition. Researchers have already discovered that the disease starts in nerve cells in the brain. These are obviously particularly difficult to investigate.

A research team led by Dr. Tania Rizo and Prof. Dr. Beate Winner have developed an innovative approach: they take skin cells from those affected, reprogram them into stem cells, then subsequently reprogram these cells into brain cells that they can use for research purposes. They have already discovered that people suffering from HSP have problems with calcium regulation.

Neurons in our brains have many varied functions. If they are to function properly, they need a functional track network that they can use to transport proteins and other cell components. This system is made up of microtubules. These microtubules have to be able to be restructured flexibly at any time. This is where the protein spastin comes into play, acting like a construction team to repair damage on the tracks. Brain cells of patients with spastic paraplegia have less spastin in their brain cells than healthy people. The effect: transport processes in nerve cells are disrupted, the nerve fibers or axons eventually degenerate entirely and patients experience severe difficulty walking, or even paralysis of the legs. But why is that the case? Which mechanisms are involved?

The researchers Dr. Tania Rizo and Prof. Dr. Beate Winner from the Department of Stem Cell Biology at FAU have succeeded in tracking down one of these mechanisms in collaboration with the Department of Molecular Neurology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen led by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Winkler and Prof. Dr. Michael J.M. Fischer, formerly the Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology at FAU. With the support of the Förderverein für HSP Forschung, they discovered that the changed quantities of spastin play a key role for the vital regulation of calcium ions in cells. This specific type of calcium regulation is referred to as "store-operated calcium entry", or SOCE for short. It is also thought that when this mechanism malfunctions it contributes to other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.

Tania Rizo and Beate Winner have taken a special approach in order to track the changes occurring within this mechanism: they have re-programmed skin cells from HSP patients into induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells are very special: they can be transformed into any type of cell, including brain cells. The researchers at the Department of Stem Cell Biology at FAU have been able to use this method particularly successfully to transform stem cells into brain cells which would otherwise be extremely difficult to access. This allows them to take a targeted approach to investigating the causes of neurodegenerative diseases and look for solutions to tackle the root causes.

Further information

Prof. Dr. Beate WinnerDepartment of Stem Cell Biology at FAUPhone: +49 9131 85 39301beate.winner@fau.de

Original news publication by FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
Back to all news

Get updates! If you want to stay informed, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, WeChat, YouTube or via RSS and subscribe to our newsletter.

An Initiative of the BMBF Website
Editor DAAD Website
  • Contact us
  • About us
  • Imprint
  • Data protection