Multimodal biomarkers based on brain dynamics, omics and clinical data for neuropathologies: Examples of stroke, ALS and bipolar disorder

Abstract:
Recent progress in neuroimaging techniques give access to the brain activity in vivo at the whole-brain level, which holds many promises for the study of cognition and neuropathologies. As an example, an active direction in clinical research is the extraction of markers for the prognosis of patient evolution using fMRI. To go beyond a phenomenological analysis, models have also been developed to go beyond a pure (black-box) machine-learning approach applied on the recorded signals, aiming to develop interpretable markers or signatures of the brain dynamics. In this presentation I will focus on analyzing the propagation dynamics within brain subnetworks, which is also used to uncover information processing during cognitive tasks. Then, I will discuss data-fusion strategies to incorporate transcriptomics and clinical data to whole-brain dynamics data, in order to go towards multimodal biomarkers and uncover pathological mechanisms

Nora Essakhi

Role of GD3 in the glioblastoma tumor microenvironment and its potential as a therapeutic target for CAR T cells

Glioblastoma (GB) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. There is no curative treatment, and therapeutic resistance is at least related to the presence of cancer stem cells and immunosuppressive microenvironment. Identifying relevant targets for these cells and developing dedicated immunotherapy is therefore a therapeutic challenge. Our team has previously demonstrated that gangliosides can be linked to stem-like properties of GB cells. Our objective is to demonstrate that GD3 is a relevant epitope for GB stem cells (GSC) to develop CAR T-cell approach. We also aim to understand GD3’s role in the tumor microenvironment.

Magali Godard (PhD student)

  Développement de méthodes analytiques pour l’étude de conjugués protéiques innovants entre des VHH et des oligonucléotides : caractérisation, stabilité et quantification dans des milieux biologiques.

Ciarán BUTLER-HALLISSEY                    Harrison YORK

Mapping microtubule turnover and remodelling during neuron development

Neurons have a complex cytoskeletal architecture which enables a stable polarised arborisation that lasts decades, but can also undergo dynamic rearrangements underlying development, learning and adaption. Central to this balance of stability and plasticity are microtubules, dynamic polymers of tubulin that support the long-range transport of neuronal components. In this seminar we will present two on-going projects within the Leterrier (NeuroCyto) Lab aimed towards understanding mechanistically how neurons regulate the turnover (1) and function (2) of subcellular populations of microtubules. Microtubules grow and shrink from their tips but recent studies have shown that they can also be renewed by directly incorporating tubulin into their assembled lattices, which we hypothesise may be critical for the long-lifetimes of neuronal microtubules. Firstly, we will present how using microinjection of labelled tubulin in combination with super-resolution microscopy, we are able to dissect the differential patterns of microtubule in-lattice renewal and plus-tip growth during the process of neurite specification in ex vivo cultures of embryonic rat hippocampal neurons. In the second part of the seminar, we will describe a newer project investigating how tubulin conformational changes within the shafts of microtubules may act as reversible signals, dictating the preferential binding of different microtubule associated proteins (MAPs). These MAPs can in turn, influence the binding and trafficking of motor proteins, thereby dictate the spatiotemporal distribution of organelles and other neuronal cargo. Together these projects represent on-going efforts within the team to uncover general mechanisms by which molecular-scale interactions of the microtubule cytoskeleton can support polarity emergence and neuronal cellular organisation.

Simone Mastrogiacomo

Development of Brain Vectors for Therapeutics and Imaging Agents

Early Amyloid-β Deposits and Astrogliosis AreModulated by Housing Conditions in 5xFAD Mice

Epigenetic mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) play a determining role in disease progression. To provided further insight on this matter, we evaluated whether early exposure of 5xFAD mice to either a standard, isolated or complex environment have a significant effect on the development of pathological hallmarks in this transgenic mouse model of AD. Accordingly, we manipulated the animal environment with different housing conditions that result in different cognitive and social stimuli. One month after birth followed by two months breeding under three different housing conditions, amyloid plaques and gliosis were evaluated. Our results demonstrated that both hallmarks were exacerbated in a complex environment and a bit less in isolated condition, in comparison with a standard social condition of housing. Thus, unexpectedly, an enriched environment conveying high behavioral stimulation can exacerbate the progression of the disease at least in the early stages. These data casts doubt on the general assumption that an enriched environment conveys beneficial effects on disease progression and suggest that strong environmental stimuli can be counterproductive, at least at the early stages of the pathology.

Il fait beau, il fait chaud!!! Pour marquer la fin de l'année (scolaire), nous vous proposons un apéro/Plage jeudi 3 juillet à partir de 18h sur la plage de l'Huveaune. Chacun amène un truc à partager (à boire ou à manger).

Bonne journée

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Hello everyone,

It's sunny, it's hot! To mark the end of the (school) year, we're hosting an aperitif/beach party on Thursday, July 3, starting at 6pm on the Huveaune beach. Everyone brings something to share (food or drink).

Have a nice day
 

L'équipe Animation

Présentation par Marseille Immunology Biocluster

En attente de précisions