Lara Kular Team

The neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disease Multiple Sclerosis is leading cause of lifelong neurological disability in young and middle-aged adults, with a yet unexplained rise in incidence. Despite well-established associations between cigarette smoking and lung alterations, with both increased risk and severity of MS, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive and specific clinical translation is lacking. In the team, we are interested in elucidating how smoking influences disease development and progression. We integrate state-of-art methodological and causal approaches, ranging from molecular multi-omics profiling of unique clinical samples along the lung-brain axis to cellular targeting strategies and experimental neuroimmunology, into a robust clinical framework. This interdisciplinary strategy has the potential to advance our understanding of MS pathogenesis and beyond, namely other immune and/or nervous diseases with similar etiology.

Lara Kular, lara.kular@ki.se

My scientific ambition is rooted in a deep passion for epigenetics and ever-growing motivation to unravel its potential in clinical neuroscience, particularly within neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders. I am particularly interested in elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the lung-brain axis in Multiple Sclerosis, including how smoking influences disease development and progression.

My expertise relies on robust theoretical and practical knowledge in a broad set of molecular and cellular skills complemented by in vivo models in neuroimmunology. I developed this competence throughout my career, beginning with engineering and master’s degrees followed by a PhD at INSERM units based at the Saint‑Antoine and Pitié‑Salpêtrière hospitals of Pierre et Marie Curie University (UPMC Sorbonne Universités) in Paris, France, where I investigated spinal nociceptive processes and neuroinflammation. As a postdoctoral fellow and later Assistant Professor at the Karolinska Institutet, my work focused on uncovering the epigenetic mechanisms that drive immune dysregulation and neuronal vulnerability in Multiple Sclerosis.

Chandana Rao Prakash, PhD student

Paula Luisa Gigerl, Research assistant

Mitra Barzine, Affiliated to research

Dennis Klose, MSc student

Jacqueline Hammer, MSc student

Marilena Tapaki, BSc student

My research is embedded in a highly collaborative and dynamic research networks locally within Karolinska Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (KNIMS) network (coordinator) and internationally with the consortium Neurogenetic and Multi-layer Omics of Neuroinflammation (NeuroMOtion).

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), The Swedish Brain Foundation (Hjärnfonden), the Swedish Association for Persons with Neurological Disabilities (Neuroförbundet), the Swedish MS Foundation (MS Forskningsfonden), the French Research Council (ANR), the French Brain Foundation (FRM), the Norlins Foundation, Magnus Bergvalls Foundation, Petrus och Augusta Hedlunds Foundation, Åke Wiberg Foundation, Margaretha af Ugglas Foundation, Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation.

lara.kular@ki.se

Full list of publication here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kk0H_MgAAAAJ&hl=en

Comprehensive profiling of CRISPR/dCas9 epigenome editors indicates a complex link between on and off target effects. Pahlevan Kakhki M, Rangani F, Ewing E, Starvaggi Cucuzza C, Zheleznyakova G, Kalomoiri M, Kenny L, Rghavan A, Rao Prakash C, van den Hoeven G, Badam TJS, Kalomoiri M, Covacu R, Andreou I, Maria Needhamsen M, Kular L*, Jagodic M*. Genome Biology. 2026 Jan 31. doi: 10.1186/s13059-026-03967-6

Kular L. The lung-brain axis in multiple sclerosis: Mechanistic insights and future directions. Brain Behav Immun Health. 2024 May 3;38:100787. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100787

A genetic-epigenetic interplay at 1q21.1 locus underlies CHD1L-mediated vulnerability to primary progressive multiple sclerosis. Pahlevan Kakhki M, Giordano A, Starvaggi Cucuzza C, Venkata S Badam T, Samudyata S, Lemée MV, Stridh P, Gkogka A, Shchetynsky K, Harroud A, Gyllenberg A, Liu Y, Boddul S, James T, Sorosina M, Filippi M, Esposito F, Wermeling F, Gustafsson M, Casaccia P, Hillert J, Olsson T, Kockum I, Sellgren CM, Golzio C, Kular L*, Jagodic M*. Nature Communications. 2024 Jul 30;15(1):6419. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50794-z

Klose D, Needhamsen M, Ringh MV, Hagemann-Jensen M, Jagodic M, Kular L. Smoking affects epigenetic ageing of lung bronchoalveolar lavage cells in Multiple Sclerosis. Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2023 Nov;79:104991. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2023.104991

Evaluation of Cell-Specific Epigenetic Age Acceleration in People With Multiple Sclerosis. Maltby V, Xavier A, Ewing E, Campagna MP, Sampangi S, Scott RJ, Butzkueven H, Jokubaitis V, Kular L, Bos S, Slee M, van der Mei IA, Taylor BV, Ponsonby AL, Jagodic M, Lea R, Lechner-Scott J. Neurology. 2023 Aug 15;101(7):e679-e689. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207489.

Epigenetic clock indicates accelerated aging in glial cells of progressive multiple sclerosis patients. Kular L, Klose D, Urdánoz-Casado A, Ewing E, Planell N, Gomez-Cabrero D, Needhamsen M, Jagodic M. Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Aug 24;14:926468. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.926468.

Methylome and transcriptome signature of bronchoalveolar cells from multiple sclerosis patient in relation to smoking. Ringh MV*, Hagemann-Jensen M*, Needhamsen M, Kullberg S, Wahlström J, Grunewald J, Brynedal B, Jagodic M, Ekström TJ, Öckinger J, Kular L. Multiple Sclerosis. 2021 Jun;27(7):1014-1026. doi: 10.1177/1352458520943768

Tobacco smoking induces changes in true DNA methylation, hydroxymethylation and gene expression in bronchoalveolar lavage cells. Ringh MV, Hagemann-Jensen M, Needhamsen M, Kular L, Breeze CE, Sjöholm LK, Slavec L, Kullberg S, Wahlström J, Grunewald J, Brynedal B, Liu Y, Almgren M, Jagodic M, Öckinger J, Ekström TJ. EBioMedicine. 2019 Aug;46:290-304. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.07.006.

DNA methylation as a mediator of HLA-DRB1*15:01 and a protective variant in multiple sclerosis. Kular L, Liu Y, Ruhrmann S, Zheleznyakova G, Marabita F, Gomez-Cabrero D, James T, Ewing E, Magdalena Lindén M, Bartosz Górnikiewicz B, Aeinehband S, Stridh P, Link J, Andlauer TFM, Gasperi C, Wiendl H, Zipp F, Gold R, Tackenberg B, Weber F, Hemmer B, Strauch K, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Rawal R, Schminke U, Schmidt CO, Kacprowski T, Franke A, Laudes M, Dilthey AT, Celius EG, Søndergaard HB, Tegnér J, Harbo HF, Oturai AB, Olafsson S, Eggertsson HP, Halldorsson BV, Hjaltason H, Elias Olafsson E, Jonsdottir I, Stefansson K, Olsson T, Piehl F, Ekström TJ, Kockum I^*, Feinberg AP^* and Jagodic M^*. Nature Communications.  2018;9(1):2397. PMID: 29921915.

Fatal demyelinating disease is induced by monocyte-derived macrophages in the absence of TGF-β signaling. Lund H, Pieber M, Parsa R, Grommisch D, Ewing E, Kular L, Han J, Zhu K, Nijssen J, Hedlund E, Needhamsen M, Ruhrmann S, Guerreiro-Cacais AO, Berglund R, Forteza MJ, Ketelhuth DFJ, Butovsky O, Jagodic M, Zhang XM, Harris RA. Nature Immunology. 2018 May;19(5):1-7. doi: 10.1038/s41590-018-0091-5.