Therpurakal Lab - Neuroinflammation & Brain Repair

The Therpurakal Lab is part of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Münster and functions within the research environment led by Prof. Dr. Sven G. Meuth.
Our research focuses on understanding how neuroinflammation and brain injury impact neuronal function and influence the brain’s capacity to repair and regenerate, especially in the context of aging and comorbidities.
Our research aims to understand why the brain successfully adapts and recovers in some cases but fails to repair in others. We examine how neuroinflammatory processes interact with neuronal circuits to affect functional outcomes in diseases like multiple sclerosis and stroke.
A central focus of the lab is to understand how aging and comorbidities affect brain vulnerability, disrupt network dynamics and oscillatory activity, and limit regenerative capacity. By combining models of chronic neuroinflammation and acute brain injury, we aim to identify shared mechanisms that control neuronal dysfunction, network adaptation, and repair.
 

We examine how neuroinflammation affects neuronal network dynamics and impacts the brain’s capacity for repair and regeneration across diseases like multiple sclerosis and stroke.

  • Neuroinflammation and circuit function

    We examine how neuroinflammation affects neuronal network dynamics and impacts the brain’s capacity for repair and regeneration across diseases like multiple sclerosis and stroke. Particularly, we are interested in

    • Microglia–astrocyte–neuron-oligodendrocyte interactions
    • Inflammatory modulation of excitability
    • Impact on network synchronization and function 

  • Network dynamics and oscillatory activity

    A central focus of the lab is to understand how neuronal networks adapt or fail under pathological conditions.

    • Network oscillations and synchronization
    • Thalamocortical and Layer 6 circuit dynamics
    • Excitability and functional network states 

  • Brain injury and repair

    We study how neuronal circuits respond to injury and what determines successful or failed recovery.

    • Hyper-localized stroke models and peri-infarct network reorganization 
    • Mechanisms of neuronal regeneration 
    • Aging and comorbidity effects on repair capacity 
       

  • Experimental Approaches

    We combine multi-scale experimental approaches to link cellular mechanisms with functional outcomes:

    • High-density microelectrode arrays (HD-MEA) 
    • Patch-clamp electrophysiology 
    • Optogenetic circuit manipulation 
    • Spatial transcriptomics (10x Xenium) 
    • Advanced imaging and immunohistochemistry 
    • In vivo models of neuroinflammation (EAE) and hyper-localized stroke 
       

  • Institutional Environment

    The lab is part of a dynamic and highly collaborative translational research environment at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Münster, and the Body & Brain Institute Münster (BBIM). The strong integration of clinical and experimental research offers an excellent framework for translating mechanistic discoveries into clinically meaningful insights in neuroinflammatory and neurological diseases.
    We actively collaborate with researchers in neuroimmunology, systems neuroscience, neuropathology, and translational neuroscience. We are particularly interested in collaborations that integrate immune profiling with functional circuit analysis.
     

Selected Publications

Bast A, Guest JM, Fruengel R, Narayanan T, de Kock CPJ, Oberlaender M. Thalamus enables active dendritic coupling of inputs arriving at different cortical layers. Nat Commun. 2025;16(1):8327.

Messore F* , Narayanan Therpurakal R*, Dufour JP, Hoerder-Suabedissen A, Guidi L, Korrell K, Mueller M, Abuelem M, Lak A, Bannerman DM, Mann EO, Molnár Z. An orexin-sensitive subpopulation of layer 6 neurons regulates cortical excitability and anxiety behaviour. Transl Psychiatry. 2025;15(1):147. (*Equally shared first authors).

Fazio L, Naik VN, Therpurakal RN*, Gomez Osorio FM, Rychlik N, Ladewig J, et al. Retigabine, a potassium channel opener, restores thalamocortical neuron functionality in a murine model of autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Brain Behav Immun. 2024;122:202-15.

Vadisiute A, Meijer E, Therpurakal RN, Mueller M, Szabo F, Messore F, Jursenas A, Bredemeyer O, Krone LB, Mann E, Vyazovskiy V, Hoerder-Suabedissen A, Molnár Z. Glial cells undergo rapid changes following acute chemogenetic manipulation of cortical layer 5 projection neurons. Commun Biol. 2024;7(1):1286.

Egger R*, Naranayan RT*, Guest JM, Bast A, Udvary D, Messore LF, Das S, Kock CP, Oberlaender M. Cortical Output Is Gated by Horizontally Projecting Neurons in the Deep Layers. Neuron. 2020;105(1):122-37 e8.(*Equally shared first authors).

Narayanan RT, Udvary D, Oberlaender M. Cell Type-Specific Structural Organization of the Six Layers in Rat Barrel Cortex. Front Neuroanat. 2017;11:91.

Egger R, Narayanan Therpurakal R, Svara F,  Oberlaender M, Denk W, Long MA. EM connectomics reveals axonal target variation in a sequence-generating network. Elife. 2017;6.

*= equal contribution

The complete list of publications by Dr. Rajeevan Naranayan Therpurakal can be found here.

Join the Lab – Fellowship Opportunities

We promote and assist motivated candidates applying for competitive fellowship programs like DAAD, EMBO, DFG, ERC, and other international funding sources, providing dedicated mentorship throughout the application process.