Leon Smyth

Cell atlas of the developing human meninges reveals a dura origin of meningioma The vertebrate central nervous system is enveloped by the meninges, consisting of the pia, arachnoid, and dura layers. The arachnoid is hypothesised to give rise to the most common primary intracrania...

Beautiful spatial transcriptomics of developing meninges and meningiomas. Hints into the origins of meningiomas arising from the dural border 🤩🧐

Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics Dural mast cells control cerebrospinal fluid dynamics at critical brain-dura interfaces, specifically arachnoid cuff exit points. Their activation limits pathogen brain entry via histamine-induced vas...

Two very cool back-to-back papers in @cp-cell.bsky.social on roles of meningeal dural mast cells in stroke and CSF dynamics 🤩😍👇🏻

cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00748-2

cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00747-0

HER3-targeted patritumab deruxtecan showed efficacy in leptomeningeal metastases from solid tumors in the Phase II TUXEDO-3 trial
📉 65% 3-month survival
🧬 Activity in intracranial lesions
🔷 From Matthias Preusser, MD, et al
🔗 ascopost.com/news/july-20...

I first fell in ❤️ with neuroscience at Mount Holyoke...apply now to inspire the next generation of women neuroscientists! 🧠

The pace of aging of which organ(s) is most linked to improved survival?
The brain and immune system
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A mast cell receptor mediates post-stroke brain inflammation via a dural-brain axis Meningeal mast cells, via the receptor Mrgprb2/X2, orchestrate brain inflammation after stroke by recruiting and promoting the transfer of skull bone marrow neutrophils into the brain, highlighting th...

Very excited to share our new work out today @cellpress.bsky.social. Here, we propose that meningeal mast cells regulate brain inflammation after stroke by coordinating immune infiltration from the skull bone marrow, through the meninges, and into the brain!

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Meningeal mast cells, via the receptor Mrgprb2/X2, orchestrate brain inflammation after stroke by recruiting and promoting the transfer of skull bone marrow neutrophils into the brain @cellcellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Dural mast cells control CSF dynamics at critical brain-dura interfaces, specifically arachnoid cuff exit points. Their activation limits pathogen brain entry via histamine-induced vascular changes @jonykipnis.bsky.social @cellcellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics Dural mast cells control cerebrospinal fluid dynamics at critical brain-dura interfaces, specifically arachnoid cuff exit points. Their activation limits pathogen brain entry via histamine-induced vas...

Excited to share our new work, led by an exceptional graduate student, Tornike Mamuladze, on the role of meningeal mast cells in regulation of brain/dura access points, with implications to CSF flow dynamics and meningitis || www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

A mast cell receptor mediates post-stroke brain inflammation via a dural-brain axis Meningeal mast cells, via the receptor Mrgprb2/X2, orchestrate brain inflammation after stroke by recruiting and promoting the transfer of skull bone marrow neutrophils into the brain, highlighting these mast cells as key regulators of brain immunity and of the skull bone marrow-meningeal-brain network.

Now online! A mast cell receptor mediates post-stroke brain inflammation via a dural-brain axis

Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics Dural mast cells control cerebrospinal fluid dynamics at critical brain-dura interfaces, specifically arachnoid cuff exit points. Their activation limits pathogen brain entry via histamine-induced vas...

Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics @cellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics Dural mast cells control cerebrospinal fluid dynamics at critical brain-dura interfaces, specifically arachnoid cuff exit points. Their activation limits pathogen brain entry via histamine-induced vascular changes.

Now online! Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics

Very pleased to say we have an Assistant Professor job opening (tenure track) in the Department of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin! 😀
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOA399/a... - deadline is August 19th! Please repost!

Congrats Vanessa and team 🤩

Physiological and injury-induced microglial dynamics across the lifespan Tieu, T. et al. leveraged in vivo two-photon live imaging of microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, to reveal striking differences in their morphology, basal dynamics, and injury responses acro...

#NewResearch from the #VcoelhoSantosLab and #ShihLab used #two-photon live imaging to reveal how #microglia 🧠 evolve across across #lifespan.

Key findings:
👶 Neonatal: Active but clumsy
🧍‍♂️ Adult: Calm but sharp
👵 Aged: Quiet and slow

@ucoimbra.bsky.social @lacaixa.bsky.social

Tissue-resident memory CD4+ T cells infiltrate the CNS in progressive multiple sclerosis and mouse EAE and contribute to EAE chronicity
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Neutrophils drive vascular occlusion, tumour necrosis and metastasis - Nature Neutrophils actively induce tumour necrosis, driving vascular occlusion, pleomorphic necrosis and metastasis.

Nature research paper: Neutrophils drive vascular occlusion, tumour necrosis and metastasis

go.nature.com/4lzilSb

On a break at the first @cshlmeetings.bsky.social
Brain Tumor meeting 🧠 #cshlbtumor 2025 Thank you for the organizers for putting together this exciting event
@drreneeread.bsky.social #hambardzumyanlab #zoulab

MatriCom, a single-cell RNA-sequencing data mining tool to infer cell–extracellular matrix interactions Highlighted Article: MatriCom is a web application devised to mine single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets to infer extracellular matrix (ECM)–ECM and cell–ECM communication systems across cell population...

Perfect timing on the last day of the 2025 #Collagen Gordon Research Conference! Our paper, in collaboration with @valerioizzi.bsky.social describing #MatriCom, a tool to infer ECM communication systems from scRNA-Seq datasets, is now published in @jcellsci.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1242/jcs....

Amazing opportunity! specially looking for neurovascular research junior PIs!!

Myocilin marks the glia limitans superficialis Astrocyte

Re-analysis of brain-wide #SpatialTranscriptomics & sc-/sn-RNAseq data➡️
Myoc+ 2% of total astrocytes covering brain/spinal cord surface

@philiphasel.bsky.social
@liddelowsa.bsky.social
#CellRep 2025
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

nothing would make me happier than US science returning to the amazing and transformational legacy of success and dominance

but if that's not possible, we need other places with the vision to take over as the pacesetter

humanity's long term success demands no less

Swapping out the brain’s immune cells can slow progression of a devastating neurological disease @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Identification and application of cell-type-specific enhancers for the macaque brain Development of a comprehensive cell-type-specific enhancer-AAV toolkit enables targeted dissection of cortical cell types in the primate brain.

Now online! Identification and application of cell-type-specific enhancers for the macaque brain

Are you a top US-based scientist wanting to relocate to Australia? We are now calling for formal applications from both Australian and non-Australian citizens based in the US whose work is internationally recognised as exceptional.
📅 Applications close: Aug 29, 2025
🔗 science.org.au/gtap/?utm_so...

A brilliant @science.org review on the brain's glymphatics, the channels for eliminating metabolic waste products, and their relationship to Alzheimer's diseases
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Brain macrophages and pial fibroblasts promote inflammation in a hypomyelination model - Acta Neuropathologica Communications Many neurological diseases remain difficult to treat, necessitating further elucidation of their pathogenesis. Conditional inactivation of Pdgfra in Nestin-expressing cells leads to the depletion of p...

Brain macrophages and pial fibroblasts promote inflammation in a hypomyelination model

actaneurocomms.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Excitatory-neuron-derived interleukin-34 supports cortical developmental microglia function Neuron-microglia interactions dictate the development of neuronal circuits in the brain. However, the factors that regulate these processes across dev…

Excited to share this new paper from the lab, now out in @cp-immunity.bsky.social! Led by the talented @bendevlin.bsky.social and in collab with @anneschaefer.bsky.social. a brief 🧵

Excited to share this new story from the lab and led by the very talented @bendevlin.bsky.social! In collab with Anne Schaefer and grateful for funding from NIH and @curealzheimersfund.bsky.social. a brief 🧵

Please share! Recently finished your PhD or plan to in 2025, and love immunology or vascular biology? We're recruiting a #postdoc @immunologyau.bsky.social
Join our team!
More info here: rb.gy/howgk4