Eliska Waloschková
Post-doc, Meehan lab
“Navigating through the entorhinal cortex using patch-seq – looking closely at layer II entorhinal cortex neurons”
Abstract: The entorhinal cortex (EC) is integral to memory and navigation, with unique cellular organization and connectivity. Despite extensive electrophysiological data, the EC lacks detailed molecular characterization. We are combining electrophysiological and transcriptomic data of EC neurons using patch-seq to reveal novel molecular markers and enhance our understanding of their functional roles. Additionally, by comparing neurons from healthy and Alzheimer's disease (AD) mouse models, we can identify disease-specific functional differences, potentially uncovering dysregulation mechanisms.
Nikolay Kutuzov
Assistant Professor, Lauritzen lab
“Super-localization two-photon microscopy for in vivo tracking of nanoparticles, red blood cells, and capillary walls”
Abstract: We are introducing super-localization microscopy with a standard two-photon microscope, without any hardware modifications. We demonstrate nanoscale precision in vivo, deep in the brain, tracking single quantum dots in brain extracellular space, red blood cells travelling through capillaries, and pulsating capillary radii and centers. This method should enable, e.g., single-particle tracking of molecular transport in the brain and studies of the brain’s subtle blood-flow regulation in health and disease.
Kathrine L Jensen
Senior Scientist, Zyneyro, and Madsen lab
“Curing chronic pain through peripheral inhibition of PICK1”
Abstract: Chronic pain is a complex health problem impacting one in five adults worldwide, with a large fraction of patients experiencing inadequate treatment. An emerging strategy to develop more effective, non-addictive therapeutics for chronic pain is through modulation of receptor trafficking by targeting specific scaffold proteins. We have successfully followed this strategy by developing, and assessing, peptide inhibitors of PICK1. Our PICK1-inhibitors are able to reduce pain-like behaviours in rodents under a wide variety of pain models and behavioural assays, with no indication of side effects such as abuse liability, influence on normal sensory perception, and effect on learning and memory.