The University of Edinburgh Neuroscience Imaging Studies Group will Host a Weminar with Dr Sebastian Lewandowski from Karolinska Institute (Sweden)
The University of Edinburgh Neuroscience Imaging group will host a webinar with our Guest Speaker Dr Sebastian Lewandowski from Karolinska Institute (Sweden).
The seminar will take place on the 16th of June 2020 Video from the seminar will be available at the later stage.
Title: ”Perivascular fibroblast cells contribute to cerebrovascular remodelling and dynamics of ALS neurodegeneration".
Sebastian Lewandowski
Researcher, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet.
Researcher, School of Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
staff.ki.se/people/seblew
Abstract. Although the core symptoms of ALS feature rapid, age-dependent degeneration of motor neurons, we still know little about the cellular mechanisms that occur in the long presymptomatic phase. Our work shows that cerebral perivascular fibroblast cells become transcriptionally active long before onset of neuroinflammation and remodel perivascular spaces with specific collagen and chemokine proteins in ALS mouse models and sporadic ALS patients. Targeted plasma proteomics of 452 ALS patients showed that perivascular fibroblast specific proteins provide clinical tools that vastly outperform current standards of prediction for patient survival. We believe our results provide a novel conceptual framework to re-evaluate cellular contributions to etiology and dynamics of ALS neurodegeneration. Since enlarged perivascular spaces are repeatedly observed in aging, dementia and other neurological disorders, perivascular fibroblast cell activity could represent a common mechanism in cerebral injury response.
Biosketch
- As researcher at the Karolinska Institutet, Sebastian Lewandowski works on the regulation of the blood-brain barrier and vascular remodeling in neurodegenerative diseases with particular focus on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He has demonstrated that PDGF-CC pathway activity contributes to dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier and accelerates the onset of ALS.
- Dr. Lewandowski is a member of the Swedish Medical Association, Swedish Society for Neuroscience and a steering group member of the junior faculty at the Karolinska Institute. He has received grants for his ALS research from the Ulla-Carin Lindquist Foundation, the Åhlens Foundation, and the Olle Engkvist Byggmästare Foundation.
- Dr. Lewandowski received his undergraduate degree from the University of Gdansk and obtained his PhD in molecular biology from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw. He performed his postdoctoral training at laboratory of Prof. Ulf Eriksson at the Karolinska Institute
Selected publication list
1. Presymptomatic activation of the PDGF-CC pathway accelerates onset of ALS neurodegeneration. Lewandowski SA et al. Acta Neuropathologica 131:453-64. (2016) PMID: 26687981,
2. Pharmacological targeting of the PDGF-CC signaling pathway for blood-brain barrier restoration in neurological disorders. Lewandowski SA et al. Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 167:108–119. (2016) PMID: 27524729,
3. Vascular regression precedes motor neuron loss in the FUS (1-359) ALS mouse model. Crivello M, et al. Disease Model Mech. Aug 13;12(8). (2019) PMID:31383794
4. Pleiotropic activity of systemically delivered angiogenin in the SOD1G93A mouse model. Crivello M et al. Neuropharmacology. 133:503-511. (2018), PMID: 29486168