WMCWeill Medical College of Cornell University · Neuroscience
Anrather Lab
Josef Anrather · New York, New York
Research Focus
The lab led by Dr. Josef Anrather at Weill Medical College of Cornell University focuses on understanding how environmental factors trigger Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other CNS autoimmune diseases. They investigate the role of specific toxins, particularly Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin and Bordetella pertussis toxin, in compromising the protective barriers of the central nervous system and leading to autoimmunity. The goal is to identify potential molecular targets for new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to combat MS.
Multiple SclerosisCNS autoimmunityClostridium perfringensBordetella pertussisimmune privilegetoxin mechanismsenvironmental triggersneuroinflammationgene profiling
Research Aims
5AIM 01Identify how Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin triggers autoimmunity in the CNS.
AIM 02Compare the effects of epsilon toxin and pertussis toxin on immune responses in EAE models.
AIM 03Determine the genes affected by toxins in CNS endothelial cells.
AIM 04Establish a more clinically relevant model for studying MS.
AIM 05Explore critical dysfunctions at CNS barriers that allow pathogenic lymphocyte entry.
Skills the Lab Values
confocal microscopyimmunohistochemistryhigh dimensional flow cytometryanimal modelstargeted genetic mutationsbioinformaticsRNA profilingcell culturemouse models
Output against the department
Publications202top 37% of dept.244th of 671
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations20ktop 21% of dept.142nd of 671
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.