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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Jun 11

🚨 PhD position in astrocyte physiology!

Join us in Amsterdam to explore how astrocytes dynamically regulate brain water flow!

Apply using the link below:
🧠🔬🌍

🔗 werkenbij.amsterdamumc.org/en/publicatie-1179368

#Neuroscience #PhD #Astrocytes #MLC #SUPERGLUE

Vacatures - PhD Cellular Neuroscience - Astrocyte Physiology - Amsterdam UMC

Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center is looking for a motivated PhD candidate to explore the fundamental physiology of astrocytes in the brain, in the context of brain fluid regulation.

werkenbij.amsterdamumc.org

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Jun 2

Fresh from the lab!

In this new paper, PhD student Sven Kerst shows how phenotypes observed in isolated cell models for the leukodystrophy MLC are also observed in intact astrocytes in acute brain slices!

Glia | Neurobiology Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Impaired Volume Regulation and Electrophysiology of Astrocytes In Situ in a Mouse Model for Megalencephalic Leukoencephalopathy With Subcortical Cysts

Cell culture studies show disrupted astrocyte physiology in the leukodystrophy MLC. Are intact astrocytes similarly affected? This study on astrocytes in MLC mouse brain slices confirms and exten...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

It was a joy to write this perspective together with Marjo van der Knaap. Her deep knowledge of white matter disorders is truly exceptional!

And our paper shows how studying rare diseases can illuminate fundamental brain processes - with implications far beyond! 🧠✨

11/11 < the end >

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

Identifying the first pathological event in MS matters:

🧪 For better models - most current models are based on triggering an immune attack against myelin...
💊 For better therapies - remyelination is bound to fail if astrocytes can’t support it!!

10/11

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

This model fits well with beautiful neuropathology studies describing early astrocyte damage in MS lesions.

And with studies showing early myelin abnormalities (swelling, vacuoles, blisters; similar to what we see in MLC) which precede demyelination!

9/11

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23322421/

The astrocyte in multiple sclerosis revisited - PubMed

Among the constituent cell types of the multiple sclerosis (MS) plaque, the astrocyte has been the least considered as a player in the pathogenesis of the lesion. Traditionally, it has been assigned a...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

We propose a similar mechanism in MS: an immune attack on astrocyte endfeet - triggered by autoimmunity against GlialCAM - disrupts astrocyte homeostasis. Myelin damage follows secondarily, and is a consequence of loss of homeostatic support.

8/11

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

Genetic defects to these proteins in MLC disrupts endfoot function and disturbs ion and water homeostasis. As a consequence myelin swells and forms vacuoles - not from a direct attack, but because of loss of astrocytic support.

7/11

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

Astrocytes express GlialCAM as part of a protein complex that is present in the endfeet with which they enwrap blood vessels in the brain. This complex is crucial for brain ion and water homeostasis (and further consists of MLC1, Aquaporin-4 and GPRC5B).

6/11

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

GlialCAM may not sound familiar - but our lab @amsterdamleuko.bsky.social has studied this astrocyte protein for years in the context of a rare genetic disease called MLC (megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts), a childhood-onset white matter disorder (leukodystrophy).

5/11

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

In trying to fight EBV, the immune system may create antibodies that mistakenly target GlialCAM. Why? Because part of GlialCAM resembles an EBV protein - a case of molecular mimicry.

4/11

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Clonally expanded B cells in multiple sclerosis bind EBV EBNA1 and GlialCAM - Nature

The identification of high-affinity molecular mimicry between the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) transcription factor EBNA1 and the CNS protein GlialCAM provides a mechanistic link between multiple sclerosi...

www.nature.com

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

A clue came in 2022: MS patients can develop antibodies against a protein called GlialCAM - triggered by infection with the very common Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Nearly all MS patients have had EBV before disease onset.

3/11

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

Most textbooks describe MS as an immune attack on the fatty myelin layer that insulates axons. But the hunt for a specific myelin antigen in MS hasn’t been very successful… So what’s going on?

2/11

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Apr 7

Excited to share our latest paper!

We argue that in MS, the primary immune attack isn’t on myelin or myelinated axons — but on the ion & water homeostasis machinery in astrocyte endfeet.

A short thread on this new perspective

1/11

Nature Reviews Neurology @natrevneurol.nature.com · Apr 4

New online! Multiple sclerosis: an immune attack on astrocyte-mediated ion and water homeostasis

Multiple sclerosis: an immune attack on astrocyte-mediated ion and water homeostasis

Nature Reviews Neurology, Published online: 04 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41582-025-01081-yAutoimmunity in multiple sclerosis (MS) is generally considered to be directed against components of myelin or oligodendrocytes. However, this Perspective argues that an immune attack on the ion and water homeostasis machinery in astrocytic endfeet is the primary event in MS and that myelin damage results from astrocyte dysfunction.

bit.ly

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Dec 18

I’m very excited that NWO will fund our ENW-XL consortium grant ‘Superglue’!! The project will focus on astrocytes, the multifunctional glue cells that keep our brain working. Let’s see what we will discover 🤩 !!

www.nwo.nl/nieuws/64-mi...

64 miljoen euro naar grensverleggende fundamentele onderzoeksprojecten | NWO

21 onderzoeksconsortia krijgen de kans om een doorbraak te maken dankzij de financiering van de Open Competitie ENW-XL. Van fundamenteel onderzoek naar het effect van bepaalde materialen op de methaan...

www.nwo.nl

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Reposted by Rogier Min

Jinte Middeldorp, PhD @jinteneuro.bsky.social · Dec 6

We extended the deadline with a few days. Abstracts can be submitted until Dec 12.

Jinte Middeldorp, PhD @jinteneuro.bsky.social · Dec 4

The GliaNed meeting 2025 will take place in Amsterdam on January 23.

Are you a researcher in The Netherlands working on #glia, submit your abstract now, for an oral or poster presentation before Dec 9:

If you want to be a member of GliaNed, please email [email protected]

lnkd.in/g3rYKiwk

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

lnkd.in

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Reposted by Rogier Min

Philip Hasel @philiphasel.bsky.social · Nov 25

PhD opportunity: If you're interested in how astrocytes and the meninges talk to each other and how this is affected in dementia come do your PhD with us in Edinburgh (cc: Karen Horsburgh and Ingo Schiessl)!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

(VIDA DTC) Exploring the role of the astrocyte-leptomeningeal vessel interface in dementia at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - (VIDA DTC) Exploring the role of the astrocyte-leptomeningeal vessel interface in dementia at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

www.findaphd.com

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Reposted by Rogier Min

Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · Nov 22

Nice shots showing open and close PIEZO ion channels both on slide and on arm!

Jorge Almagro @jorgealmagro.bsky.social · Nov 22

Fantastic Harvey lecture at Rockefeller Uni by @ardemp.bsky.social, with both great science + artistic performance

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Nov 22

Easy answer: there’s no such thing…

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Reposted by Rogier Min

Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · Nov 22

Hey folks! I got a tattoo of my beloved PIEZO ion channel on my arm! Now I can show how they activate (flatten) under pressure by flexing—Will add a bit of performance art to my science talks 🧪🧠.

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Nov 19

My first post in the sky is a:

Job Alert!

We are looking for a PhD student to study astrocyte dysfunction in the rare neurological disease MLC. Looking for a challenge? See the job advertisement below!

werkenbij.amsterdamumc.org/en/vacatures...

Vacatures - PhD Understanding and repairing astrocyte dysfunction in the leukodystrophy MLC - Amsterdam UMC

The Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center is searching for a motivated PhD candidate, for a collaborative project on understanding astrocyte dysfunction in the leukodystrophy MLC.

werkenbij.amsterdamumc.org

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Nov 19

Thanks!

Reposted by Rogier Min

Roslyn Bill @roslynbill.bsky.social · Nov 18

Join me to do your PhD on aquaporins as part of the Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership funded by BBSRC. Please get in touch if you are interested! The project is co-supervised by @kitchenphil.bsky.social

The deadline is 16th January 2025!

warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

Professor Roslyn Bill

warwick.ac.uk

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Reposted by Rogier Min

Phil Kitchen @kitchenphil.bsky.social · Nov 17

🌟PhD Opportunity in membrane biophysics!🌟
Fully-funded 4 year PhD studentship at @AstonAIME with @NaomiLPollock1 using neutron scattering at @isisneutronmuon to study lipid interactions with membrane proteins.
Apply now: www.aston.ac.uk/graduate-sch...
#PhDOpportunity #Biophysics

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Reposted by Rogier Min

Monica Carson @brainimmunity.bsky.social · Nov 17

some great starter packs for the #glia, #astrocyte, #oligodendrocyte, #microglia, #neuro researcher: gliasky, astrocytesky, microglia
But if you also like interactions between celltypes, please help this starter pack get started. Maybe someone can connect all of us in a feed?

go.bsky.app/MHtJzeC

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Rogier Min @rogiermin.bsky.social · Nov 18

Would love te be added, thanks!