News
2022
New CSC study published in PNAS. Congratulation Carla and co.!
More about Carla's study can be found here: https://www.stemcellcenter.lu.se/article/new-findings-may-lead-way-future-therapeutic-approaches-parkinsons-disease-and-similar-diseases
A warm welcome to Erika Velasquez who recently joined the CSC lab.
Erika is an expert in proteomics. She obtained her PhD at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Erika will be examining how pathways and networks dysfunctions trigger cellular pathology in iPSC-derived spheroids from patient diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases.
More about Erika's work can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Vel%C3%A1squez+Erika
Welcome Erika!
2021
New CSC study published in Cell Reports. Congratulation Kaspar and co.!
In this study, we show that human astrocytes adopt different reactive immune phenotypes when exposed to either TNFa or alpha-synuclein fibrils, which are exogenous stressors that compete to drive the astrocyte immune reactive response. We also show that PARK2- variant-containing astrocytes exhibit an exacerbated response to the stressors, accompanied by bioenergetic defects.
This work was advertised on Alzforum, X-Mol, Physicians weekly, MultiPark, Lund Stem Cell Center, CEA, European Parkinson Disease Association (EPDA), Stem Cells Science News.
2020
PI Laurent Roybon kicks off EUGLOH Annual Student Research Conference with plenary lecture on how iPSC can be used to model neurodegenerative diseases and develop treatments.
EUGLOH stands for "European University Alliance for Global Health". The action regroups 5 European Universities: Université Paris-Saclay (France), University of Szegeb (Hungary), Ludwig-Maximillians-Universitat Munchen (Germany), University of Porto (Portugal), and Lund University (Sweden). EUGLOH was co-funded by the ERASMUS+ Program of the European Union.
This year event was greatly organized by our Hungarian colleagues from University of Szegeb.
More information about EUGLOH can be found by cliking here.
European University Alliance for Global Health
Study by Pomeshchik and colleagues highlighted in Alzheimer Europe (click here).
To read our interview with Alzheimer Foundation Sweden, on the study by Pomeshchik and colleagues, please click here.
New article by Pomeshchik et colleagues highlighted in Neurologi i Sverige, Sound Health and Lasting Wealth, Medical Xpress, Medical Life Sciences News, Medindia, Science daily, ...
New research paves way for developing therapies that could slow down Alzheimer´s
Neuroscientists and stem cell researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a research model that allows studying human hippocampal neurons, the brain cells primarily affected by Alzheimer’s disease pathology. The study has been published in Stem Cell Reports. To access the full press release, click here.
CSC team buiding 2020 took place in Ven island, between the Danish and Swedish coats! Activities of the day included biking around the island, walking with alpaca and swimming with seals! The day was finalized with a BBQ and refreashing drinks. We all looking forward to next year team building event!
Congratulation Carla! PhD student Ms. Carla Azevedo brilliantly defended her thesis on April 30th 2020. The thesis defense took place virtually via Zoom. She is now Dr. CAzevedo and has a brilliant career ahead of her.
Join the CSC lab and many other labs at Lund University to help combat COVID-19: donate surplus of medical equipment to clinicians. Today, our master student Clarisse brought gloves, hair nets, masks and ethanol to the BMC reception, at Solvegatan 19. Trolleys are there waiting for your donations, which will later be brought to Lunds' hospital. Donate and stay safe!
Well done Margarita, or should we say Dr. Chumarina! Margarita brilliantly defended her thesis on the 15th of January 2020. After an inspirational introduction given by her thesis opponent Dr. Jonathan Gilthorpe from Umeå University, Margarita persented her work, and importantly described how stem cells can be utilize to study patient brain cells dysfunction. We look forward to reading and hearing more about Margarita' future accomplishments.
Congratulation Margarita! Margarita' PhD thesis was nailed in early december at the BMC D10. Margarita will defend her PhD thesis on January 15th. All are welcome to attend this exciting event.
2019
Congratulation Carla! Carla is recipient of three grants from The Royal Physiographic Society of Lund, the Lund University Faculty of Medicine, and Multipark. The grants supported Carla' attendance at the Society for Neuroscience and the New York Stem Cell Foundation conferences.
Join us at the ERI-W Workshop in Helsinki, Finland. For more info, please click here.
CSC represented at the 3rd Nordic Neuroscience Meeting in Helsinki, Finland. Great meeting! For more info, please click here.
CSC team buiding 2019! Great day. Batteries are now recharged to tackle year 2020.
- 5th World Parkinson Congress in Kyoto, Japan. For more info, please click here.
Wonderful meeting in a wonderful location: Japan, a country with great ancient culture filled with harmony. The congressed had an impressive attendance: 5,000 registered, including patients, scientists, clinicians, care givers and representative of foundations. The CSC lab is delighted to have been part of this amazing scientific and meeting event, where Ass. Prof. Laurent Roybon and PhD student Carla Azevedo could present novel work on the role of glia in Parkinson's disease. Great lectures, great posters, great event, where people with Parkinson's and scientists truly interacted. As a proof, most of the questions to the presenters were asked by patients. See you in 3 years in Barcelona, Spain!
- CSC represented at the Portuguese glia Network in Lisboa, Portugal. For more info, please click here. You can also join the Portuguese glia network activities on Facebook; click here.
Welcome to the course "Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative diseases: finding a common ground" - 3rd edition. This one week course is organized by leaders of the Neuroscience field at the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, and supported by FENS and IBRO-PERC. The programme can be found here.
2018
CSC participated to the annual BrainStem consortium symposium, hosted by coordinator Prof. Poul Hyttel, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Kaspar Russ (picture below) and Docent Laurent Roybon presented new data on astrocyte reactivity. The meeting concluded with a nice diner in Copenhagen city. Thank you Poul for this wonderful meeting and see you all in Lund next year.
Docent Laurent Roybon gives inspirational lecture at the 2nd Nordic PhD summit, at the University of Helsinki, in Finland. The meeting was organized by PhD students from Nordic Universities, and under the theme "Think Open". For more information, please see Nordoc website.
New study published in PNAS reveals developmental changes in Huntington's disease, raising the possibility that like Huntington's disease, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may also be neurodevelopmental disease, if inherited. The study is led by Prof. Stephan Von Hörsten.
CSC Team building 2018: CSC team brings food on the table! congratulation to Tessa and Margarita who won the fishing contest! A great sunny day full of activities which concluded with a familial BBQ; this year with fish!
Congratulation Margarita! Candidate PhD student Margarita Chumarina successfully defended her halftime seminar! A big thank you to Prof. Edgar Pera and Ass/Prof. Marco Ledri who gave a great opposition to Margarita.
CSC out for lunch, preparing for well-deserved holidays!
BAGADILICO final event took place at Ystad Saltsjöbad. Dr. Kaspar Russ and PhD students Carla Azevedo and Margarita Chumarina presented posters during the event, which was finalized by an empowering lecture by Patrik Brundin, founder of BAGADILICO, and Professor and Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Science at the Jay Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, USA.
PhD student Carla Azevedo awarded best poster at the Neuroscience day in Lund: The Segerfalk Foundation generously awarded 8,000 SEK to Carla for travel to conference. Congratulation Carla!
Congratulation Carla ! Candidate PhD student Carla Azevedo successfully defended her halftime seminar! A big thank you to Ass/Prof. Iben Lundgaard and Ass/Prof. Philipe Pereira who gave a great opposition to Carla.
CSC awarded a new grant from the MJFF. Great support can only lead to great discoveries with major impact for patients. thank you MJFF
CSC PhD students Margarita Chumarina and Carla Azevedo participated to the UniStem day on March 16th. High school students had the opportunity to learn more about stem cells and talk to scientists of the CSC lab. Congrats to Margarita and Carla for their great performance in teaching!
2017
The CSC is thankful to Prof. Dr. Jürgen Winkler and Prof. Dr. Beate Winner for their invitation to give a lecture on our work, at the ForIPS International symposium. Great speakers, great symposium.
Human astrocytes transfer aggregated alpha-synuclein via tunneling nanotubes by J. Rostami, S. Holmqvist, V. Lindström, J. Sigvardson, G. Westermark, M. Ingelsson, J. Bergström, L. Roybon, and A. Erlandsson. The study raised awareness at the Society for Neuroscience and in Science magazine, and is now in press in The Journal of Neuroscience. Congratulation to Jinar from Senior Author Prof. Anna Erlandsson from Uppsala University and Staffan from the CSC lab.
Welcome Agnès, gymnasium student. Agnès will train on generating motor neuron reporter lines for drug screening.
Dr Yuriy Pomeshchik awarded one of the best scientific image by the Ragna Söderbergs Stiftelse. Congratulation Yuriy!
The image taken by Yuriy has been selected to be part of ''The invisible body’’ exhibition, a unique exhibition of photos from medical research labs, shown at Sven-Harry's Art Museum in Vasaparken, Stockholm, November 1, 2017 - January 7, 2018.
The picture, which resembles the head of a phantom, represents an organoid-like structure cut transversally and immunostained for astrocytes (green) and neurons (purple).
Dr. Kaspar Russ gives a talk on the effect of alpha-synuclein on astrocytes in Parkinson's disease, at the University of Aahrus, In Denmark!
CSC Team building 2017: climbing, clay shooting, and CSC BBQ; time to enjoy and prepare for summer holidays!
Docent Laurent Roybon speaks at the 5th Venusberg meeting on NeuroInflammation, in Bonn, Germany.
We are grateful to our hosts Professors Pierluigi Nicotera and Michael Heneka for inviting us to this memorable meeting which regroups some of the world best experts working on neuroinflammation. We look forward to the next meeting!
Docent Laurent Roybon receiving prestigious award for project using patient derived cellular models, together with Docent Tarja Malm (University of Eastern Finland), and Professor Mahmood Reza Amiri Moghadam (University of Oslo). The prizes are awarded at a ceremony in the University of Oslo Aula, with a subsequent gala dinner at the Hotel Bristol to honour the winners. From left to right: L. Roybon, T. Malm, M. R. A. Moghadam, and Sir Olav Thon, honorable founder of the foundation.
CSC lab represented by Docent Laurent Roybon and Dr. Yuriy Pomeshchik participated, together with JPND consortium, to minisymposium on Neurodegenerative diseases organized by Professor Dora Brites, at the University of Lisbon, in Portugal.
New grant awarded to Docent Laurent Roybon and colleagues by prestigious Norwegian foundation Olav Thon (10 million NOK for 4 years).
The Olav Thon foundation is one of the most prestigious foundation in Norway, support excellent researchers working on neurodegenerative diseases. This year, only 3 grants supporting consortia were awarded. Read more about the award here.
2016
New press release: collaborative research highlighted in Alzforum and Science. The CSC lab and the Erlandsson lab in Uppsala have teamed up to study the role of astrocytes in the propagation of toxic aSYN protein.
Grant awarded by Prestigious Michael J. Fox Foundation to CSC lab. The MJFF is based in the city of New York, USA, and has the mission to support excellent researchers worldwide. Read more about the award here.
The work of the CSC lab investigators was presented by Laurent Roybon at the Danish Stem Cell Society on the 11th of November, at Rungstedgaard, Copenhagen.
Read more about the DASCS here
Welcome Max, eighth grade student who wants to learn more about pre-clinical studies and how the brain works!
Max' first immunostaining showing embryoid bodies differentiated into hb9::GFP motor neurons (green) expressing the pan-neuronal marker b-III-tubulin (red). Cell nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue).
The CSC lab is proud to have participated in the co-organization of the outreaching event with Parkinson-Skåne on September, 7th. Patients and their family members could interact with researchers at Lund University.
This event was an enriching experience for both sides at it allowed researchers to expose their latest discoveries and explain their pre-clinical investigations and the patients to better gain an understanding of the work conducted in Lund in the area of Parkinson's disease research.
Congratulation to Staffan Holmqvist who brilliantly defended his PhD.
The PhD defense took place at the Medical Faculty in Lund, on September 6th, 2016. We are thankful to the PhD thesis committee members Prof. Georg Kuhn (Gothenburg University), Ass. Prof. Eva Hedlund (Karolinska Institute), and Madeleine Durbeej-Hjalt and thesis opponent Prof. Kwang-Soo Kim (Harvard Medical School & McLean Hospital) for being part of this event.
We wish all the best to Dr. Staffan and look forward to his next achievements.
A Nordic Initiative: the first library of iPSC to model and study Parkinson's Disease and associated synucleinopathy MSA published by the CSC laboratory in collaboration with the Koistinaho laboratory at UEF, in Finland. By Staffan Holmqvist, Šarka Lehtonen and colleagues.
Published in Nature Press Journal NPJ Parkinson's Disease
Article featured in European Parkinson's Disease association EPDA
2015
CSC laboratory now supported by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).
Congratulation to all members of the CSC for their hard work; and congratulation also to those who relentlessly supported the CSC.
MADGIC, consortium regrouping 8 internationally renowned groups, including the CSC, was awarded a JPND grant.
In total, 21 consortia were funded, in this European call.
The consortium is coordinated by Prof. Jari Koistinaho and co-coordinated by Ass. Prof. Laurent Roybon.
Group Leader Laurent Roybon appointed Docent
CSC 2015 publications featured by the Parkinsonfonden
Enigma finally resolved: Yes, oligodendrocytes do express alpha-synuclein during their development, By Dr. Mehdi Djelloul, Ph.D.
Published in Cell Press Journal Stem Cell Reports
Generation of Pluripotent stem cell reporter lines for the reporting and isolation of human astrocytes, By Staffan Holmqvist, M.Sc.
Published in Stem Cell Research
2014
Visit from the French Ambassador
2013
New Study Sheds Light on the Role of Astrocytes in Brain Disease, By Laurent Roybon, Ph.D.
Published in Cell Press Journal Cell Reports
2012
Nobel price co-winner, Prof. Mario Capecchi gave an inspiring talk at Lund's Hospital, followed by insights to young researcher about grants, science and how his career evolved. Importantly, he reminded us that if we do what we like in Science, we will do it to its best, which in the end will make a difference. Thank you, Mario for the inspiring meeting.
Skin Cells From Parkinson Patients Become Stem Cells
Staffan Holmqvist generating the first CSC iPSCs!
