PaquetLab

FT ranking: Europe’s leading start-up hubs 2026 View the top centres providing business incubator and accelerator programmes

Munich takes the top two spots in the FT ranking of Europe’s startup hubs — UnternehmerTUM #1, Start2 Group #2.

Strong science, engineering depth, & real bridges between research + entrepreneurship. Huge opportunity ahead in part. for AI + bio/med. 🚀
www.ft.com/content/ab05...

Losing sleep over #iPSC transgene silencing after differentiation?
Same here.

Bright in iPSCs.
Gone after differentiation.

Our paper in @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social maps what actually keeps expression on👇
www.cell.com/cell-stem-ce...
🔗 Free access (50 days):
www.sciencedirect.com/science/auth...

Many thanks @nature.com for selecting our image of a fully #iPSC derived #BBB (#blood-brain-barrier) as 'Image of the Week' in Nature Briefings: mailchi.mp/nature/trans... 😀 Find the image in action in our primary research paper here: rdcu.be/eUIl3

Image of the Week: Congrats to the team of González-Gallego J et al., Nat Neurosci. 2026 for this lovely award in Nature Briefing 🏆 🖼️ @judit-gonzalez.bsky.social @paquetlab.bsky.social (->Fig 2b www.nature.com/articles/s41...)

🏛️ 200 Years of LMU in Munich 🎓 Founded in 1472, relocated from Landshut to Munich in 1826 — today LMU celebrates 200 years in Munich and inaugurates Prof. Dr. Matthias H. Tschöp as President.

Our paper is (finally) out in Cell today!

CRISPR screens in iPSC-derived neurons reveal principles of tau proteostasis
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Great collaborative effort - read more from first author @asamelson.bsky.social below:

Infotafel mit Logo der Prospects DFG Research Career Series und den Terminen: 10.02.2026, 14:30 - 16:00 Uhr – The Emmy Noether Programme (in English) 11.03.2026, 10:30 - 12:00 Uhr – DFG-Förderangebote für Postdocs 14.04.2026, 14:30 - 16:00 Uhr – Das Walter Benjamin-Programm 20.05.2026, 14:00 - 15:30 Uhr – DFG funding Opportunities for Postdocs (in English) 25.06.2026, 14:00 - 15:30 Uhr – The Emmy Noether Programme (in English)

#ECR save the dates! 🗓️ In der Reihe #PROSPECTS informiert unser Team #Karriereförderung auch 2026 regelmäßig über die Fördermöglichkeiten bei der DFG. Hier haben wir die Infotalks für die erste Jahreshälfte. Teilnahme ohne vorherige Registrierung möglich, Link erscheint hier.
👉 sohub.io/bvv0

China’s ‘Dr. Frankenstein’ Thinks Time Is on His Side

The reckless human embryo genome editor, He Jiankui, known as China's Dr. Frankenstein, is back at it.
"People were not yet ready to accept what I was doing."
We're still not.
nytimes.com/2026/01/13/w...

Stem Cell Reports is calling for applications to serve on its editorial team as an Early Career Editor, a prestigious opportunity for outstanding, early-career scientists to help shape the future of stem cell publishing. The deadline to apply is 13 March 2026. https://ow.ly/8iiP50XWscj

🧠 Fully human #iPSC - derived 3D #BBB model with perfusable vessels and key BBB functions. #FOXF2 deletion causes BBB dysfunction, rescued by lipid-nanoparticle delivery of Foxf2 mRNA.

🔗Read a summary of the study on our website: www.synergy-munich.de/news-events/...

Many thanks #Alzforum for featuring our recent studies on iPSC models of the #blood-brain-barrier! And we are also grateful for all the thoughtful comments from experts in the field! www.alzforum.org/news/researc.... Primary papers can be found here rdcu.be/eUIl3 and here rdcu.be/eUImz 🙂

PS: If you interested in this kind of work, we are looking for a highly motivated Postdoc to continue in this area of the lab. See our profile and webpage for more details: isd-research.de/paquetlab

This was a great collaboration! Many thanks to all authors, especially @judit-gonzalez.bsky.social and @katvolgyi.bsky.social, as well as our funding sources! @dfg.de @synergy-munich.bsky.social BMBF @ec.europa.eu and the Foundation Leducq network www.brenda-leducq.de !!! 7/7

Lastly, treatment with AKB-9778, which boosts Tie2 activity by blocking Tie2-dampening vascular endothelial protein tyrosine phosphatase, restored Tie2 signaling both in mice and human endothelial cells, which rescued nitric oxide production and had positive effects on infarct sizes in mice. 6/7

We also found that FoxF2 in endothelial cells facilitated functional hyperemia and limited infarct size in adult mice, again mediated via Tie2 signaling and underscoring the role of FOKF2 in #Stroke and #Small vessel disease. 5/7

In both EC-specific KO mice and our new fully iPSC-derived BBB model (see here: rdcu.be/eUIl3), loss of FOXF2 caused BBB leakage and attenuated TIE2 signaling, pointing to a central role of this pathway in FOXF2-dependent BBB regulation. 4/7

By performing ChIP-seq and omics in complementary mouse and human iPSC-derived models of FOXF2 deficiency we found that FOXF2 acts as a transcriptional activator of Tie2 and other lineage-specific genes in endothelial cells. 3/7

The #blood-brain-barrier (BBB) is a critical structure regulating the brain, but its function is affected by major brain disorders like #Stroke, #Small vessel disease and #Alzheimer’s. Genetics identified risk loci, such as FOXF2, in patients but role and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. 2/7

And another new paper with co-first and -last author contributions from the lab at @natneuro.nature.com! Another great collab with DichgansLab @isd-research.bsky.social @lmumuenchen.bsky.social: Foxf2 maintains brain endothelial cell function via Tie2 signaling! #OA PDF: rdcu.be/eUImz Thread👇 1/7

PS: If you interested in this kind of work, we are looking for a highly motivated Postdoc to continue in this area of the lab. See our profile and webpage for more details: isd-research.de/paquetlab

This was a great collaboration! Many thanks to all authors, especially Judit and Katalin, as well as our funding sources! @dfg.de @synergy-munich.bsky.social BMBF @ec.europa.eu and the Foundation Leducq network www.brenda-leducq.de !!! 10/10

Lastly, we tested if we could apply the human #BBB model to test treatments restoring #BBB function. We delivered FoxF2 back into disease vessels by perfusing #LNPs #lipid-nanoparticles, and found that this rescued the defects, indicating suitability of the model for translational applications 9/10

Tight junctions, which restrict transport between ECs at the #BBB were also affected, decreasing the functional barrier - the same again was true in vivo, indicating that FOXF2 is a major regulator of #BBB function in ECs and that its dysfunction in patients may lead to NVD via #BBB dysfunction 8/10

We found a major dysregulation of several central #BBB functions, including upregulation of transport via caveolae, which is usually strictly regulated at the BBB. Intriguingly, comparison with data from FoxF2 KO mice showed a full phenocopy (identical phenotype), validating the human model. 7/10

Using #CRISPR/Cas gene editing, we engineered the cells to contain a loss of the FOXF2 gene, a major risk locus found in patients with neurovascular diseases, including #stroke and Small vessel disease, and we investigated occurrence of disease-relevant phenotypes. 6/10

The vessels in the human #BBB model could even be perfused with human blood using a minipump, indicating typical vessel properties! 5/10

When combining the #BBB cells in a microfluidic chip, they spontaneously and remarkably formed perfusable tubes showing many key features of human brain vessels, which we characterized morphologically and functionally. 4/10

To build such a model, we first optimized differentiation of BBB cell types from #iPSCs, including endothelial (EC), mural and glia cells, and deeply characterized those using proteomics and RNAseq, also benchmarking them against primary cells and datasets from brain. 3/10

The BBB is a critical structure regulating the brain, but its function is also affected by major brain disorders like #Stroke, #Small-vessel-disease and #Alzheimer’s. Human models are needed to investigate the involvement of the BBB in human disease! 2/10

New paper out today at @natneuro.nature.com in collab. with DichgansLab @isd-research.bsky.social @lmumuenchen.bsky.social: We developed a fully #iPSC-derived human model of the #BBB #blood-brain-barrier and applied it to study neurovascular disease (NVD)! #OA PDF here: rdcu.be/eUIl3 Thread👇 1/10