Martina Absinta

Abstract: The pathological mechanisms driving clinical progression in multiple sclerosis remain incompletely understood and are therefore not fully addressed by current therapies. Recent studies have emphasized the significance of compartmentalized smoldering inflammation, particularly in chronic active or smoldering lesions, as a key factor in persistent clinical progression. The first part of the talk will explore imaging techniques and provide a detailed correlative analysis of the neuropathology of multiple sclerosis lesion evolution, including chronic active lesions, utilizing multiplex immunostaining, single-cell analysis, and spatial transcriptomics. The second part of the talk will focus on the attempt to model smoldering inflammation using an hiPSC-derived glia-enriched organoid system. All together, these experimental tools might help in advancing our understanding of MS and developing personalized medicine approaches.

Bio: Prof. Martina Absinta is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Head of the Experimental Neuropathology Lab at Humanitas University Hospital in Milan, Italy. She is a physician-scientist with clinical and research activities focused on multiple sclerosis. She has dedicated her research work to studying MRI–human neuropathological correlations in multiple sclerosis and identifying novel imaging biomarkers of chronic inflammation, with a special focus on glia-mediated and leptomeningeal inflammation. Her research has highlighted the clinical relevance of compartmentalized inflammation and chronic active lesions in driving progression in multiple sclerosis and the need of novel treatments with bioactivity within the central nervous system.