Professor Lars Fugger

About

Professor Lars Fugger is Professor of Neuroimmunology in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford and studies how genes and environmental factors combine to cause the risk of multiple sclerosis. 

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common chronic inflammatory and degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Inherited susceptibility to MS is primarily associated with certain Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes. In addition, unknown environmental factors also seem to play a role in the disease.

Professor Fugger's research group, the Oxford Centre for Neuroinflammation at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, is seeking to understand the molecular basis for the MHC association in MS and how MHC genes interact with environmental factors such as viruses. The group is also investigating how the MHC associated inflammation leads to neurodegeneration, which is responsible for the long-term disability in MS patients. There is a strong focus on translational medicine and both clinicians and non-clinicians are working in the group, which is taking a multidisciplinary approach made possible through a strong network of local and international collaborators.