Prof Michael HENEKA

Michael Heneka is a board-certified neurologist and clinician-scientist with over 25 years of experience in studying neurodegenerative diseases at experimental, preclinical and clinical levels. He has a long-standing interest in immunology and neuroscience. While the main focus of his work is related to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, he has also been working on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

At the clinical level, he had established a neurodegenerative outpatient unit at both the University of Münster and the University of Bonn in Germany. From 2016 to 2021, he led the department of Neurodegenerative Disease and Geriatric Psychiatry in Bonn. From January 2022 onwards, he is the Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg and Principal Investigator of the Neuroinflammation group (Heneka Lab).

Key publications

• Heneka MT, Kummer MP, Stutz A, Delekate A, Schwartz S, Vieira-Saecker A, Griep A, Axt D, Remus A, Tzeng TC, Gelpi E, Halle A, Korte M, Latz E, Golenbock DT. NLRP3 is activated in Alzheimer’s disease and contributes to pathology in APP/PS1 mice. Nature. 2013 Jan 31;493(7434):674-8. https://www.doi.org/10.1038/nature11729. Epub 2012 Dec 19. PMID: 23254930; PMCID: PMC3812809.
• Ising C, Venegas C, Zhang S, Scheiblich H, Schmidt SV, Vieira-Saecker A, Schwartz S, Albasset S, McManus RM, Tejera D, Griep A, Santarelli F, Brosseron F, Opitz S, Stunden J, Merten M, Kayed R, Golenbock DT, Blum D, Latz E, Buée L, Heneka MT. NLRP3 inflammasome activation drives tau pathology. Nature. 2019 Nov;575(7784):669-673. https://www.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1769-z. Epub 2019 Nov 20. PMID: 31748742; PMCID: PMC7324015.
• Venegas C, Kumar S, Franklin BS, Dierkes T, Brinkschulte R, Tejera D, Vieira-Saecker A, Schwartz S, Santarelli F, Kummer MP, Griep A, Gelpi E, Beilharz M, Riedel D, Golenbock DT, Geyer M, Walter J, Latz E, Heneka MT. Microglia-derived ASC specks cross-seed amyloid-β in Alzheimer’s disease. Nature. 2017 Dec 20;552(7685):355-361. https://www.doi.org/10.1038/nature25158. PMID: 29293211.
• Scheiblich H, Dansokho C, Mercan D, Schmidt SV, Bousset L, Wischhof L, Eikens F, Odainic A, Spitzer J, Griep A, Schwartz S, Bano D, Latz E, Melki R, Heneka MT. Microglia jointly degrade fibrillar alpha-synuclein cargo by distribution through tunneling nanotubes. Cell. 2021 Sep 30;184(20):5089-5106.e21. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.09.007. Epub 2021 Sep 22. PMID: 34555357; PMCID: PMC8527836.
• Scheiblich H, Eikens F, Wischhof L, Opitz S, Jüngling K, Cserép C, Schmidt SV, Lambertz J, Bellande T, Pósfai B, Geck C, Spitzer J, Odainic A, Castro-Gomez S, Schwartz S, Boussaad I, Krüger R, Glaab E, Di Monte DA, Bano D, Dénes Á, Latz E, Melki R, Pape HC, Heneka MT. Microglia rescue neurons from aggregate-induced neuronal dysfunction and death through tunneling nanotubes. Neuron. 2024 Sep 25;112(18):3106-3125.e8. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2024.06.029. Epub 2024 Jul 25. PMID: 39059388.
• Tejera D, Mercan D, Sanchez-Caro JM, Hanan M, Greenberg D, Soreq H, Latz E, Golenbock D, Heneka MT. Systemic inflammation impairs microglial Aβ clearance through NLRP3 inflammasome. EMBO J. 2019 Sep 2;38(17):e101064. https://www.doi.org/10.15252/embj.2018101064. Epub 2019 Jul 30. PMID: 31359456; PMCID: PMC6717897.
• Heneka MT, Nadrigny F, Regen T, Martinez-Hernandez A, Dumitrescu-Ozimek L, Terwel D, Jardanhazi-Kurutz D, Walter J, Kirchhoff F, Hanisch UK, Kummer MP. Locus ceruleus controls Alzheimer’s disease pathology by modulating microglial functions through norepinephrine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Mar 30;107(13):6058-63. https://www.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909586107. Epub 2010 Mar 15. PMID: 20231476; PMCID: PMC2851853.
• Heneka MT, Sastre M, Dumitrescu-Ozimek L, Hanke A, Dewachter I, Kuiperi C, O’Banion K, Klockgether T, Van Leuven F, Landreth GE. Acute treatment with the PPARgamma agonist pioglitazone and ibuprofen reduces glial inflammation and Abeta1-42 levels in APPV717I transgenic mice. Brain. 2005 Jun;128(Pt 6):1442-53. https://www.doi.org/10.1093/brain/awh452. Epub 2005 Apr 7. PMID: 15817521.
• Lučiūnaitė A, McManus RM, Jankunec M, Rácz I, Dansokho C, Dalgėdienė I, Schwartz S, Brosseron F, Heneka MT. Soluble Aβ oligomers and protofibrils induce NLRP3 inflammasome activation in microglia. J Neurochem. 2020 Dec;155(6):650-661. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/jnc.14945. Epub 2020 Jan 30. PMID: 31872431.
• Friker LL, Scheiblich H, Hochheiser IV, Brinkschulte R, Riedel D, Latz E, Geyer M, Heneka MT. β-Amyloid Clustering around ASC Fibrils Boosts Its Toxicity in Microglia. Cell Rep. 2020 Mar 17;30(11):3743-3754.e6. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2020.02.025. PMID: 32187546; PMCID: PMC8729885.
• Semmler A, Widmann CN, Okulla T, Urbach H, Kaiser M, Widman G, Mormann F, Weide J, Fliessbach K, Hoeft A, Jessen F, Putensen C, Heneka MT. Persistent cognitive impairment, hippocampal atrophy and EEG changes in sepsis survivors. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2013 Jan;84(1):62-9. https://www.doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2012-302883. Epub 2012 Nov 7. PMID: 23134661.
• Yamanaka M, Ishikawa T, Griep A, Axt D, Kummer MP, Heneka MT. PPARγ/RXRα-induced and CD36-mediated microglial amyloid-β phagocytosis results in cognitive improvement in amyloid precursor protein/presenilin 1 mice. J Neurosci. 2012 Nov 28;32(48):17321-31. https://www.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1569-12.2012. PMID: 23197723; PMCID: PMC6621845.
• Kummer MP, Hermes M, Delekarte A, Hammerschmidt T, Kumar S, Terwel D, Walter J, Pape HC, König S, Roeber S, Jessen F, Klockgether T, Korte M, Heneka MT. Nitration of tyrosine 10 critically enhances amyloid β aggregation and plaque formation. Neuron. 2011 Sep 8;71(5):833-44. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2011.07.001. PMID: 21903077.
• Sastre M, Dewachter I, Rossner S, Bogdanovic N, Rosen E, Borghgraef P, Evert BO, Dumitrescu-Ozimek L, Thal DR, Landreth G, Walter J, Klockgether T, van Leuven F, Heneka MT. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs repress beta-secretase gene promoter activity by the activation of PPARgamma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Jan 10;103(2):443-8. https://www.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0503839103. Epub 2006 Jan 3. PMID: 16407166; PMCID: PMC1326151.
• Scheiblich H, Bousset L, Schwartz S, Griep A, Latz E, Melki R, Heneka MT. Microglial NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation upon TLR2 and TLR5 Ligation by Distinct α-Synuclein Assemblies. J Immunol. 2021 Oct 15;207(8):2143-2154. https://www.doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.2100035. Epub 2021 Sep 10. PMID: 34507948; PMCID: PMC8490941.