Myositis Young Investigator Award for Sven Wischnewski

Sven Wischnewski has been awarded the Myositis Young Investigator Award by the German Society for Muscle Diseases for his research on inclusion body myositis (IBM) - the most common inflammatory muscle disease in older adults. He received the €3,000 DGM Young Investigator Award at the 27th DGM Congress in Giessen on March 20.

Wischnewski is a resident physician in the Department of Neurology at the University Medical Center Mannheim. Alongside his clinical work, he is conducting research for his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Professor Dr. Lucas Schirmer, Heisenberg Professor for Translational Neurobiology and Head of the Division for Neuroimmunology.

In an international study led by the Division for Neuroimmunology of the University Medical Center Mannheim and the Myositis Center of the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland (USA), scientists from several university medical institutions in Germany and the USA investigated the causes and mechanisms of inclusion body myositis progression.

Currently, there is no effective therapy to slow the progression of inclusion body myositis. This slowly progressing inflammatory muscle disease is accompanied by degenerative processes that lead to muscle atrophy in the arms and legs. Sven Wischnewski's research aimed to identify cell type-specific and spatially localized drivers responsible for inflammation and muscle fiber atrophy in inclusion body myositis.

Using techniques such as single-cell nuclear RNA sequencing and spatially resolved transcriptomics, the researchers gained new insights into inclusion body myositis pathophysiology. The mechanisms they uncovered could pave the way for new therapeutic approaches to protect damaged muscle fibers and enhance their resilience. The study’s findings were published in June 2024 in the journal Nature Aging. Sven Wischnewski played a key role in this research and is one of the first authors of the publication. His contributions have now been recognized with the Myositis Young Researcher Award by the German Society for Muscle Diseases.