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Zurich Cerebrovascular Research Lab

Team

Heads of CVR labs

Prof. Dr. med. Susanne Wegener, Principal Investigator (PI)

Stroke is a catastrophic event affecting approximately 20.000 people/ year in Switzerland. My group tackles the disease from different angles: mechanistically (basic science, translational projects) and therapeutically (clinical studies and computational sciences). We are clinicians and scientists from different backgrounds, thus we can draw from a variety of tools and experiences . I am a Neurologist at the University of Zurich (UZH) and University Hospital Zurich (USZ), where I head the Stroke Center and Headache Unit. Department of Neurology – USZ

E-mail: susanne.wegener@usz.ch

Prof. Dr. Bruno Weber, Principal Investigator (PI)

Experimental Imaging & Neuroenergetics

We ask very simple questions about the most complex system on the planet. Fascinated by these simple questions and how challenging it is to answer them, my goal is to bring together the very best people with the very best tools. Apart from running the lab for Neuroenergetics and Experimental Imaging, I act as the Director of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

E-mail: bweber@pharma.uzh.ch

 

PD Dr. Mohamad El Amki, Group leader

My goal is to understand the complexity of the brain vasculature in health and disease. We focus on developing novel approaches for improving macro and microvascular function in order to keep the brain’s circulatory system functional. Our overall goal is to perform translational research to bridge the gap between bench and bedside in cerebrovascular medicine.

E-mail: mohamad.elamki@usz.ch/mohamad.elamki@uzh.ch

 

 

Clinician Scientists

In collaboration with the USZKlinik für Neurologie

Dr. med. Anton Schmick, FEBN

I am an attending neurologist at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, with board certification in Neurology and Internal Medicine (FMH) and fellowship of the European Board of Neurology. My clinical and scientific work focuses on cerebrovascular diseases, the brain–heart axis, epilepsy, and neuro-oncology, with particular emphasis on quality of life, sex-specific outcomes, and advanced diagnostics.

 

 

Projects:

  • Cerebrovascular Disease: Quality of Life (CODE: QoL) NCT06443268 Quality of Life (CODE: QoL)
  • ZIS-CVT (Zurich InveStigation in Cerebral Venous Thrombosis)
  • MOSES (MidregiOnal proatrial natriuretic peptide to guide Secondary Stroke prevention) Role: active collaboration

Member of Collaborative/interdisciplinary Research Consortia

  • EVATRISP (EndoVAscular treatment and ThRombolysis for Ischemic Stroke Patients)
  • SELECT (post-stroke epilepsy and antiepileptogenesis)
  • CVT (Cerebral Vein Thrombosis) Consortium

E-mail: anton.schmick@usz.ch

Dr. med. Philipp Baumgartner

I am an Attending Physician in Neurology at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) with clinical specialization in stroke medicine and neurovascular ultrasound. I earned my MD with a thesis on imaging biomarkers of post‑stroke cognitive impairment. My research focuses on the interface between cerebrovascular disease and retinal ischemia, particularly Central Retinal Artery Occlusion (CRAO), as well as the application of optical biomarkers in acute stroke. Methodologically, I work with clinical cohorts, ultrasound and MRI biomarkers, and large multicenter registry datasets.

Projects: 

  • ONSITE: Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter (ONSD) for non‑invasive monitoring of intracranial pressure after ischemic stroke ONSITE
  • CRAO: international projects on thrombolysis in retinal ischemia

  • ROSE : Retinal OCT-A in Stroke and cErebrovascular disease (OCT-A: Optical coherence tomatography angiography)POSE

E-mail: philipp.baumgartner@usz.ch

Dr. med. Corinne Inauen

I am a consultant neurologist with over 10 years of clinical experience, specializing in acute stroke care, neurovascular diseases, and neurovascular ultrasound at the University Hospital Zurich. My research focuses on ischemic stroke and carotid artery stenosis, with particular emphasis on carotid near-occlusion, cerebral hemodynamics, collateral circulation. Methodologically, I work with duplex ultrasound, multimodal imaging (MRA, CTA), and quantitative flow measurements (noninvasive optimal vessel analysis, NOVA), and contribute to national and international multicenter studies linking biomarker or imaging findings with clinical outcomes.

Projects:

  • Angiography- and ultrasound-based research on carotid artery stenosis, with a dedicated project on carotid near-occlusion focusing on diagnostic duplex ultrasound criteria (illustrated by this schematic figure demonstrating conventional carotid stenosis and carotid near-occlusion with and without full collapse).
  • Local coordinator of the AGELESS study: Atherogenic Lipoproteins in Ischemic Stroke Study Details | NCT05090878
  • MOSES: MidregiOnal Proatrial Natriuretic Peptide to Guide SEcondary Stroke Prevention Study Details | NCT03961334 

E-mail:  corinne.inauen@usz.ch

Dr. med. Lukas Bastian Otto

I am a resident at the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Zurich since April 2023. specializing on neuroavscular disease. Among other things, I spent a year working in the stroke unit and in neuroangiology consultations. My scientific work focuses on blood biomarkers of stroke (neutrophils, neutrophil extracellular traps, collateral vessels, and collaborative projects within the EVATRISP-consortium.

 

 

Projects:

  • CLOTSAFE: Microclots and Neutrophil Activation as Potential Indicators for Stroke Risk and Reperfusion Failure Study Details | NCT06530927  CLOTSAFE
  • Automated Collateral Evaluation in Acute Ischemic Stroke patients (ACE-AIS)ACES

E-mail: lukasbastian.otto@uzh.ch

Dr. med. Anna Maria Schneider 

I am a resident in the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital in Zurich. My work examines the cerebroprotective effects of mTOR inhibition in acute stroke using in vivo and in vitro models, alongside clinical research on secondary prevention of ischemic stroke and cardiovascular disease more broadly. Prior to my clinical training, I earned a PhD in the Laboratory of Cerebral Ischemia under Prof. Alastair Buchan at the University of Oxford and completed an MPH with a concentration in Health and Social Behavior at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

E-mail: annamaria.schneider@usz.ch

Hannah

Dr. med. Hannah-Lea Handelsmann

I completed my studies in medicine at the University of Zurich where I developed a deep interest in stroke, stroke pathology and providing information for patients and relatives on outcome after stroke. I enjoy planning, recruiting for and conducting clinical studies because of the direct contact with the patients and the imminent relevance for clinical practice. The focus of my current research lies on outcome prediction after stroke, including individual patient characteristics (age,medical history), blood biomarkers and clinical findings. The aim is to improve patient care and maximise treatment benefit as well as to provide the patient and relatives with information on individual outcome estimates (for example performance of everyday tasks, reliance on care givers).

Projects:

E-mail: hannah-lea.handelsmann@usz.ch

Dr. med. Hakim Baazaoui

I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of St. Gallen (2016) and obtained my medical degree from Heidelberg University in 2022. I completed my medical doctorate at Heidelberg University in 2023, graduating magna cum laude. Since 2023, I have been working as a resident physician and clinician scientist at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich. My research focuses on the automation of imaging analysis in stroke and on outcome prediction. Methodologically and clinically, my expertise lies in the imaging of leptomeningeal collaterals in stroke and in the conduct of prospective clinical trials.

Projects:

E-mail: Hakim.Baazaoui@usz.ch

Dr. med. Nelly Blindenbacher

Fascinated by the workings of the brain, I studied medicine at the University of Basel. After completing my Staatsexamen, I joined the team of Susanne Wegener and started working clinically at the University Hospital of Zurich, including the stroke unit. My current research focus is stroke outcome prediction in the acute setting, while I am rotating through different clinical departments to gain a broad overview of various fields in neurology.

Projects: Our ongoing project evaluates neurologists’ ability to predict early neurological severity and long-term functional outcomes in patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke in the acute setting, both with and without access to clinical decision-support tools.

E-mail: nelly.blindenbacher@usz.ch

Dr. med. Annalisa Bichsel

I completed medical school at the University of Basel, where I obtained my MD, and earned my PhD from the University of Oxford. My doctoral research focused on a multicentre randomised controlled trial in the neonatal population, using EEG and physiological outcomes. I am currently a neurology resident at University Hospital Zurich. My research interests include the development and evaluation of novel interventions and clinical trial designs to improve functional outcomes in stroke patients.

 

Projects: 

  • DARTS Trial (Dornase Alfa for Reperfusion Treatment in Ischemic Stroke): a multicentre RCT assessing the effect of intravenous dornase alfa on improving patients’ functional outcome after ischemic stroke as well as brain tissue reperfusion (preparatory stage)Treatments against Reperfusion Failure: DARTS

  • ROSE : Retinal OCT-A in Stroke and cErebrovascular disease (OCT-A: Optical coherence tomatography angiography)ROSE

E-mail: Annalisa.Bichsel @usz.ch

Dr. med. Laura Philine Westphal

E-mail: lauraphiline.westphal@usz.ch

 

Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr. Lisa Herzog, PostDoc

I hold a Master’s degree in Biostatistics and a PhD in Data Science/Biostatistics from the University of Zurich. My doctoral research focused on developing methods to improve outcome prediction in acute ischemic stroke using clinical and neuroimaging data. My research aims to support evidence-based treatment decisions in acute stroke care by integrating statistical methods with machine learning and deep learning approaches. In parallel, I provide statistical consulting for multiple clinical studies, contributing to study design, analysis, and interpretation.

Methodological expertise: Statistics, Machine Learning, Deep Learning

Projects:

  • Supervising master’s/doctoral theses and provide statistical support for multiple clinical studies (e.g., MiSleeps, STOPStroke, CODE: QoL Care) and conduct research on treatment decision-making in large vessel occlusion stroke. Quality of Life (CODE: QoL)

E-mail: lisa.herzog@uzh.ch / lisa.herzog@usz.ch

Jeanne

Dr. Jeanne Droux, PostDoc

I am a Postdoc with a background in biology and biotechnology, currently focused on understanding the cellular mechanisms of reperfusion failure in stroke. My research explores how neutrophils contribute to the obstruction of brain capillaries, which is a key factor in stroke-related brain damage. I am passionate about bridging basic biology with clinical applications, aiming to identify novel therapeutic targets for stroke recovery.

Projects: Investigating the mechanisms by which neutrophils contribute to reperfusion failure in stroke.

E-mail: jeanne.droux@uzh.ch

Graduate Students

Julian

Julian Deseö, MD/PhD Student

After studying medicine at the University of Zurich, I started my PhD in 2024. The aim of my PhD project is to improve the detection of a cardioembolic cause of stroke in ischemic stroke patients. To this end, I am analyzing a variety of data including electrocardiogram, brain MRI and heart imaging using machine learning techniques ranging from biostatistical models to deep learning. One key challenge I am tackling is how leverage big datasets such as the UK Biobank, to tackle concrete clinical questions. ‎Improving diagnosis of cardioembolic stroke with machine learning

E-mail: julian.deseoe@uzh.ch

Chryso

Chryso Lambride, PhD Student

I hold a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cyprus. I am currently pursuing a PhD in the Neuroscience Program at the University of Zurich, in collaboration with the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research at the University of Bern. My research focuses on developing computational models to study cerebral hemodynamics under physiological and pathological conditions. In particular, my PhD project investigates microcirculation and cerebral autoregulation during ischemic stroke and reperfusion using in silico modeling approaches.

Projects:

  • Computational modeling of cerebral autoregulation and microvascular hemodynamics in health, stroke, and reperfusion. Project
  • Reconstruction of synthetic whole-brain vascular networks from in vivo whole-arterial mouse brain data.

E-mail: chryso.lambride@usz.ch

Kaiyuan Yang, PhD Student (Prof. Björn Menze lab)

I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the National University of Singapore in 2022 and started my PhD at the University of Zurich thereafter. My research focuses on anatomical segmentation of brain vessels in angiography. I develop computer vision methods to automatically characterize brain vasculature with fine-grained anatomy and accurate topology. A major vessel network I have studied is the Circle of Willis (CoW), for which we created public datasets and benchmarks for segmentation, detection, and classification of anatomical variants. I am currently extending this work towards a whole-brain vessel atlas, with the aim of enabling downstream clinical applications.

Projects:

TopCoW/TopBrain

E-mail: kaiyuan.yang@uzh.ch

Hanna

Hanna Preuss, PhD Student

Fascinated by the human mind, I pursued a Bachelor's in Psychology, followed by a Master's in Fundamental Neuroscience in the Netherlands. In 2024, I completed my master's thesis in Boston, researching neurodegeneration, neural oscillations and brain clearance. My current interests lie in cerebrovascular diseases and the role of non-neuronal cells, which I am exploring further in my PhD journey.  

E-mail: hanna.preuss@uzh.ch

 

Andrei Reyes Pangan, PhD Student

I hold an HBSc in Immunology, Molecular Genetics, and Microbiology and an MSc in Immunology from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining the group, I trained in the labs of Dr. Gommerman and Dr. Buechler in Toronto, and Dr. Deczkowska at Institut Pasteur in Paris. My previous work focused on characterizing immune-stromal niches within brain border regions under homeostatic and inflammatory conditions. For my PhD, I aim to elucidate the origins of stalling neutrophils that obstruct capillaries following stroke, using in vivo models, two-photon live imaging and experimental immunology approaches. 

 E-mail: Andrei.Pangan@usz.ch

Study Coordinators

Dr. Simone Huber, Study coordinator

My background is in biology and health sciences with a focus on neurology and rehabilitation sciences. I have been involved in clinical studies and human research projects in these fields since 2019. As a study coordinator in Prof. Wegener’s lab, I support the following projects:  CLOTSAFE, CODE-QoL-Care, DO-IT, MOSES, POSE, PREDICT & PREDICT2 , STOPstroke. 

 E-mail: simone.huber@usz.ch

 

Elina Kiessling, Study coordinator

My academic background is in psychology with an emphasis on clinical psychology and in management with a specialization in media. Since 2019, I have been involved in research across the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and body-oriented psychotherapy. Since 2023, I have been active in neurological research, including clinical trial management and the coordination of human research projects. I support the following projects: MOSES, SILENT2, CLOTSAFE, ROSE, FROMM, ComPAIN.

E-mail: elina.kiessling@usz.ch

Natalija Savic, Administrative support

E-mail: natalija.savic@usz.ch

 

 

 

 

Alumni

Dr. William Middleham

Dr. Nadine Binder

Dr. Talia Bergaglio 

Dr. Robert Klövekorn

Prof. Oliver BrackoTeam | BloodFlowLab

 

Collaborators

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