Striatech
Journal Club
Seeing White Matter Aging Through the Visual System
Janos Groh, Ph.D. - Institute of Neuronal Cell Biology, Technical University of Munich
Live date: Thu, 11 Jun 2026
7:00 a.m. (US, West coast)
10:00 a.m. (US, East coast)
14:00 (UTC)
16:00 (Germany)
19:30 (India)
22:00 (China, Perth)
23:00 (Korea, Japan)
24:00 (Sydney)
Register Now
About the speaker
Janos Groh, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Institute of Neuronal Cell Biology, Technical University of Munich
Janos is a lecturer in “Experimental Neurology” at the Medical Faculty of the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg and a senior research associate at the Institute of Neuronal Cell Biology at the Technical University of Munich. He earned his PhD in Biology from the University of Würzburg in 2013. In 2023, he joined the Technical University of Munich as a group leader and principal investigator.
Description
Aging is accompanied by progressive white matter degeneration that compromises brain connectivity and function. Defects in myelinating glial cells together with chronic neuroinflammation contribute to this process. Recent work from the Groh laboratory has shown that dysfunctional microglia promote the recruitment and retention of pathogenic CD8+ T cells in aging white matter through chemokine-mediated signalling. By integrating single-cell and spatial transcriptomics with functional analyses of the visual system, the group investigates the cellular and molecular interactions between glial and immune cells that drive white matter pathology in aging mice. These findings identify microglia–immune cell crosstalk as a central mechanism of age-related neurodegeneration and highlight potential therapeutic targets.
Key Topics
- Defects in myelinating glial cells lead to structural and functional alterations in the brain
- Neuroinflammation plays a role in white matter degeneration in aging mice
- Dysfunctional and maladaptively activated microglia facilitate the accumulation of harmful CD8+ T cells
- Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics uncover complex interactions between glia and immune cells in aging white matter
- Microglia-driven chemokine signaling promotes recruitment and retention of CD8+ T cells in aged white matter
Learning Objectives
The visual system can serve as a sentinel of age-related white matter decline. Attendees will gain insight into how complementary methodologies can be integrated to investigate structural, functional, and molecular changes associated with white matter aging in mice.
Background Reading
Accumulation of cytotoxic T cells in the aged CNS leads to axon degeneration and contributes to cognitive and motor decline. Groh, J., Knöpper, K., Arampatzi, P. et al. Nat Aging 1, 357–367 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-021-00049-z
CD8+ T cells induce interferon-responsive oligodendrocytes and microglia in white matter aging. Kaya, T., Mattugini, N., Liu, L. et al. Nat Neurosci 25, 1446–1457 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01183-6
White matter aging and its impact on brain function. Groh J., Simons M. Neuron. 2025 113, 127-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2024.10.019
Microglia activation orchestrates CXCL10-mediated CD8+ T cell recruitment to promote aging-related white matter degeneration. Groh, J., Feng, R., Yuan, X. et al. Nat Neurosci 28, 1160–1173 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-01955-w
Register now
Journal Club: Seeing White Matter Aging Through the Visual System
Jun 11th, 2026
Jun 11th, 2026
