If you are looking for a PhD, are passionate about neurobiology and enjoy microscopy, come and join us for a PhD project on axonal pathophysiology in ALS!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Applications close on Friday 4th July 2025

@mndassoc.bsky.social
@uclqsion.bsky.social

Join the UKDRI at UCL in the Salih Lab to explore how glial-specific longevity genes affect ageing and Alzheimer’s, using iPSC models, genomics, and molecular biology @ukdri.ac.uk @dervissalih1.bsky.social Closing date: 26th June

www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/job/research...

Check out a write up here: www.ukdri.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

We tagged C9orf72 repeat dipeptides in patient iPSC-neurons and did genetic and small molecule screens with interesting results! Huge effort from many lab members @ukdri.ac.uk‬ @uclqsion.bsky.social and @alzheimersresearchuk.org‬ Drug Discovery Institute at UCL www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I recenty did a podcast about our work in the lab @ukdri.ac.uk @uclqsion.bsky.social to understand the mechanisms that cause FTD/ALS check it out here: SoundCloud on.soundcloud.com/xs6j9EcMbTRW...
- Apple Podcasts podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/n...
- Spotify open.spotify.com/episode/7cnY...

We are still investigating the mechanisms of protection as it may be more beneficial to mimic the effects of PUFAs in the brain using other means

We next need to determine whether a specific PUFA (there are several) is able to provide benefit on its own and then take forward to a clinical trial

Our data fits well with existing epidemiological studies from Alberto Ascherio @hsph.harvard.edu showing increased PUFA levels reduces risk for ALS and prolongs survival after onset e.g jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

This suggests that delivery of PUFAs to neurons in the brain is needed for them to exert their protective effect

So we next expressed a fatty acid desaturase enzyme, which generate PUFAs, only in the brain cells of our C9orf72 ALS flies and this time the improvement was much more dramatic. This approach also increased the survival of human C9orf72 patient neurons

We next wanted to test if restoring PUFAs would be beneficial. We found that increasing PUFAs through the diet only modestly extended survival of our C9orf72 ALS fly model

We initially found a deficit in PUFAs in C9orf72 patient neurons and a fruit fly model by measuring ~1400 different lipids with Martin Giera and @rikvanderkant.bsky.social

Really excited this is out! We found polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were beneficial in models of C9orf72 FTD/ALS and the greatest benefit occurred when increasing levels specifically within neurons @ukdri.ac.uk @uclqsion.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk @cziscience.bsky.social
rdcu.be/ebbZf

Check out our new review of C9orf72 ALS in @thelancetneuro.bsky.social with Sarah Mizielinska, Rosa Rademakers and others! Was fun to co-write but tough to collate such incredible progress into a one article: authors.elsevier.com/c/1ke765FFzL...

A first description of the C9 repeat iNDI lines is now on bioRxiv, a collaboration from genome engineering through cell biology to facilitate ALS/FTD research @michael-e-ward.bsky.social @jacksonlab.bsky.social @cziscience.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

First post here! Our latest paper showing CRISPR-CasRx can target both sense and antisense C9orf72 repeats is just out! rdcu.be/d5ADQ co-led by @alexcammack.bsky.social @ukdri.bsky.social @uclqsion.bsky.social