Jens Kuhle

Jens Kuhle is a Swiss/German neurologist, clinical researcher, and professor specialising in multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuroimmunology. He is Head of the Multiple Sclerosis Centre and Vice Head of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Basel (USB) and a research group leader in Clinical Neuroimmunology at the University of Basel.

Education Kuhle studied medicine at the Eberhard-Karls University in Tübingen, where he obtained his medical degree (MD). He completed specialist training in neurology and neuroimmunology at the University Hospital Basel. He subsequently undertook doctoral research (PhD) in neuroimmunology at Queen Mary University of London.

Career After completing his PhD, Kuhle returned to Basel, where he became a research group leader in clinical neuroimmunology within the Departments of Clinical Research and Biomedicine. He later served as Deputy Head of the Outpatient Clinic and the Multiple Sclerosis Centre at the University Hospital Basel. He was subsequently appointed Head of the Multiple Sclerosis Centre and, in 2021, assumed leadership of the Neuroimmunology Unit. His clinical role includes senior consultant responsibilities at the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital Basel.

He was appointed Clinical Professor of Neuroimmunology at the University of Basel as part of a newly established professorship, jointly held with Tobias Derfuss.

Kuhle initiated and leads the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Cohort (SMSC), a nationwide, prospective, multicentre research network designed to collect longitudinal clinical, imaging, and biospecimen data from people with MS. The cohort supports research on disease mechanisms, biomarkers, and treatment outcomes.

Research Kuhle’s research focuses on the identification and validation of biomarkers for disease activity, progression, and treatment response in multiple sclerosis. His group contributed to the clinical establishment of serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) as a biomarker of neuroaxonal injury in MS measurable in blood. In addition, his group investigated glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as a marker of astrocytic pathology associated with disease progression. More recently, his research has expanded to the systematic investigation of biomarker panels in highly characterised clinical cohorts, integrating longitudinal clinical data, imaging, and biospecimens to improve biological stratification and risk assessment in multiple sclerosis.

Selected publications Serum neurofilament light chain for individual prognostication of disease activity in people with multiple sclerosis: a retrospective modelling and validation study (The Lancet Neurology). Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein compared with neurofilament light chain as a biomarker for disease progression in multiple sclerosis (JAMA Neurology). Intrathecal immunoglobulin M synthesis is an independent biomarker for higher disease activity and severity in multiple sclerosis (Annals of Neurology). Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Cohort (SMSC): prospective cohort study of clinical and imaging biomarkers (clinical cohort publications).