Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Sep 8

New TYP lab publication from co-authors
Zach Augur and @garrettfogo.bsky.social
on deciphering the function of Optineurin in iPSC-derived Neurons and Astrocytes! This will be the first of 3 first-author publications from Zach's PhD thesis! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Optineurin deficiency disrupts phosphorylated tau proteostasis and clusterin expression in human neurons - Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Optineurin (OPTN) is an autophagy adaptor protein involved in selective autophagy, including aggrephagy and mitophagy. Pathogenic mutations in OPTN have also been linked to amyotrophic lateral scleros...

link.springer.com

3 5

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Aug 25

Best of luck today to @alexlish.bsky.social on her first day at Novartis! We will miss her greatly but look forward to seeing all of the fabulous things she accomplishes in her new scientific endeavors!

1 1

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jul 31

Honored to have our work featured!Huge thanks for highlighting our triculture Alzheimer’s model!

Selina Wray @selinawray.bsky.social · Jul 29

I’m a huge fan of the work done by @typlab.bsky.social - so it was great to have the opportunity to write a preview of their work describing an in vitro triculture model of Alzheimer’s (with @celarber.bsky.social & Tatiana). Check it out & go read their paper!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reconstructing Alzheimer’s disease one cell type at a time using in vitro tricultures

In a recent study, Lish and colleagues used a fully human-based, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived triculture model of neurons, astrocytes,…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 7

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jul 10

Huge congrats to @zacharyrmurphy.bsky.social selected as a 2025 Fujifilm Fellow at @harvard.edu 🎉

The Fujifilm Fellowship Program fully funds PhD students doing groundbreaking work in the life sciences!!

3 7

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 13

Huge shoutout to our brilliant graduate student @gizemterzioglu.bsky.social for delivering a fantastic talk at the HMS Neurobiology Pizza Talk series! 🍕🧠 She highlighted exciting insights into how SHIP1 shapes microglial function at the intersection of intracellular trafficking and immune response.

2 9

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 13

🧠 New study led by our talented graduate student Courtney Benoit, uncovers how the autism-linked gene POU3F2 supports brain development by promoting neural stem cell growth via Wnt signaling and key targets like ADNP and SOX13. Check it out here in Brain: academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Validate User

academic.oup.com

2 5

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 12

Highlights from our lab at the @keystonesymposia.bsky.social Neurodegeneration meeting!

@heuerwego.bsky.social delivered an excellent talk on ABCA7 loss and microglial dysfunction in Alzheimer’s

@alexlish.bsky.social presented a great poster on CLU and intercellular communication in Alzheimer’s

2 8

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 5

New TYP lab publication led by PhD student @alexlish.bsky.social out today in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social! We present a reproducible neuron-astrocyte-microglia tri-culture model to better reproduce intercellular interactions in Alzheimer's disease. Read more here: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Astrocyte induction of disease-associated microglia is suppressed by acute exposure to fAD neurons in human iPSC triple cultures

Lish et al. present a co-culture system of iPSC-derived human microglia, astrocytes, and neurons to investigate intercellular communication across different environmental and genetic contexts. Transcr...

www.cell.com

13 19

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 4

Proud of our amazing postdoc @heuerwego.bsky.social 👏 who gave a fantastic talk today on her work leveraging stem cell models 🧫to examine the molecular and functional consequences of Alzheimer's disease genetic risk in microglia today as part of the BWH Neuroscience Seminar Series!

2

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 4

We are proud to celebrate Tracy as the recipient of the Harvard Medical School Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award! 🎉 Her guidance, encouragement, and dedication mean so much to all of us. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor!

2 7

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Jun 3

Thrilled to celebrate our incredible undergrad Ellie Grogan, who was awarded the Harvard Hoopes Prize for her exceptional senior thesis! 🏆📖 We’re so proud of her hard work and insight, and a great time taking her out to dinner to celebrate! 🎉🍽️

6

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · May 31

🎓Congratulations to our incredible grads! 🎉
Dr. Lish and outstanding undergrads Seohyun Kim & Ellie Grogan are officially Harvard alumni! 🥂
We’re so proud of all you’ve accomplished—and can’t wait to see what you do next! 💫 @alexlish.bsky.social

1 5

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · May 30

Huge congrats to our Master’s student Emma Karp for receiving the GBM Master Prize from the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology! 🏆🧬
Emma earned it for her work in Biomedical Neurosciences at TUM! 🎓🧠
🔗 gbm-online.de/de/studium-k...

GBM-Masterpreis - Homepage der Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie e.V.

gbm-online.de

2 6

Reposted by Young-Pearse Lab

Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center @rushalzheimers.bsky.social · May 21

With the support of Dr. Frank Ondrey, the RADC is pleased to present the Martha Ondrey Postdoctoral Prize to Sarah Heuer, PhD.

Dr. Heuer presented on leveraging human stem cells to elucidate how polygenic risk affects cellular state transitions & communication networks in AD.

1 1 5

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · May 21

Big shoutout to our lab at the annual ROSMAP meeting in Chicago!

🎉 @heuerwego.bsky.social gave a great talk & won the Martha Ondrey Jr. Investigator Award 🏆

🧠 @gizemterzioglu.bsky.social crushed it with her presentation on SHIP1 & the inflammasome in microglia!

2 6

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · May 15

Excited to see our recent study featured on Alzforum! Thank you for highlighting our new study on how AD risk variants at the CLU locus lower astrocytic clusterin, disrupt neuroimmune crosstalk, and drive synapse loss. Read the full story here!

Alzheimer’s Risk Variants Leave Astrocytes CLUless | ALZFORUM

nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

1 11

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · May 14

A big day for the TYP lab! Master's student Emma successfully defended her incredible thesis work today where she's been working with @gizemterzioglu.bsky.social on studying how SHIP1 regulates lysosomal function in microglia. She will be missed!

5

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · May 14

Some TYP members attended the BIGG meeting at UMass on Monday, and had a great time presenting talks and posters! PhD student @gizemterzioglu.bsky.social & postdoc @kelliannealexa1.bsky.social gave amazing short talks, Master's student Emma & postdoc @heuerwego.bsky.social got great poster traffic!

2 7

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · May 10

Tracy gave a great presentation at the 3rd Targeting Therapy of Alzheimer’s and Related Neurodegenerative Disease Conference in Chania, Crete! Huge thanks to Peter St. George-Hyslop, Li-Huei Tsai & Riqiang Yan for an incredible meeting. So many inspiring talks! #TargetAD25

5

Reposted by Young-Pearse Lab

alexlish.bsky.social @alexlish.bsky.social · Apr 30

Thrilled to share my first first-author paper is out
@cp-neuron.bsky.social! We show that Alzheimer's disease protective CLU alleles upregulate CLU in response to neuropathology, dampening inflammatory signaling between microglia and astrocytes.

Read here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

CLU alleviates Alzheimer’s disease-relevant processes by modulating astrocyte reactivity and microglia-dependent synaptic density

Genetic studies implicate clusterin (CLU) in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet its precise molecular impact remains unclear. Through u…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 20 37

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Apr 30

New TYP lab paper out today in @cp-neuron.bsky.social led by PhD student @alexlish.bsky.social! We took a deep dive into the mechanisms underlying CLU in AD using innovative iPSC, mouse, and human data approaches. Be sure to give it a read!
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

CLU alleviates Alzheimer’s disease-relevant processes by modulating astrocyte reactivity and microglia-dependent synaptic density

Lish et al. reveal that AD-protective CLU alleles enhance CLU upregulation in response to accumulated neuropathology, thereby dampening inflammatory signaling between microglia and astrocytes. Using s...

www.cell.com

9 21

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Apr 11

Congratulations our newly-minted PhD candidate Olivia Pembridge on passing her PQE with flying colors today! Olivia will be using a wide array of iPSC and organoid models to study mechanisms of neurodevelopment!

4 9

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Apr 10

Congratulations to TYP lab postdoc @kelliannealexa1.bsky.social on an amazing talk at the Cold Spring Harbor Barriers meeting!! Keep a lookout for all the cool work Kellie is doing with iPSC models of the BBB!

7

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Apr 10

Congratulations to TYP lab Postdoctoral Research Fellow @heuerwego.bsky.social on being awarded a @brightfocus.bsky.social Alzheimer's Disease Research Fellowship! Sarah is using iPSCs to determine the cellular impacts of ABCA7 mutations in Alzheimer's disease!

2 11

Young-Pearse Lab @typlab.bsky.social · Apr 10

Some members of the TYP lab had a great (and only mildly frigid) outing to Fenway to see the Red Sox play this week!

1 3