Sunaina Surana

New from #UCL: Faces of UCL, hosted by President & Provost Dr Michael Spence.

Ordinary people, extraordinary stories - from curating Egyptian artefacts to decoding dementia.

Listen now https://www.ucl.ac.uk/about/ucls-bicentenary/faces-ucl-podcast

#UCLPodcasts

The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience

Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E

@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

Photo of Filipe Nascimento

Congratulations to Filipe Nascimento on successfully being awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award (CDA) - ‘Spinal microcircuit resilience in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): mechanisms, translational insights and therapeutic windows’, starting in April 2026.

Muscle-derived miR-126 regulates TDP-43 axonal local synthesis and NMJ integrity in ALS models - Nature Neuroscience Ionescu, Ankol et al. show that, in ALS mouse and iPSC models, TDP-43 aggregation at NMJs stems from aberrant axonal translation, normally repressed by muscle EV-derived miR126. Loss of miR126 in ALS increases TDP-43 buildup, impairs local synthesis and triggers degeneration.

Intriguing new insights on axonal TDP-43 in ALS from @labperlson.bsky.social and colleagues

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered Differences in the distribution of certain proteins and markers in the brain may explain why some people first experience vision changes instead of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease, finds a new…

Differences in the distribution of certain proteins and markers in the brain may explain why some people first experience vision changes instead of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease, a study by @uclqsion.bsky.social researchers found.
buff.ly/dBRRQvY #WorldAlzheimersMonth

Tau accelerates tubulin exchange in the microtubule lattice - Nature Physics Beyond its known role in stabilizing microtubules, it is now shown that tau protein actively promotes lattice defect repair by enhancing tubulin turnover at topological defects.

Excited to share that my paper on Tau–Microtubule interactions is now published in Nature Physics!🎉

Our work shows that tau goes beyond stabilizing microtubules—it also promotes the removal of defects in the microtubule lattice.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lysosomal RNA profiling reveals targeting of specific types of RNAs for degradation Autophagy targets a wide variety of substrates for degradation within lysosomes. While lysosomes are known to possess RNase activity, the role of lysosomal RNA degradation in post-transcriptional gene...

I am excited to share my graduate work in the Sabatini and @bartellab.bsky.social labs. Since their discovery, we have known lysosomes possess RNase activity; however, their substrates were not known. Surprisingly we find specific RNAs are targeted for degradation! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Beautiful data from @dvillarroelc.bsky.social showing a key role for TBK1 in #AxonalTransport of signalling endosomes:

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

@uclqsion.bsky.social @mndassoc.bsky.social #ALS #MND

The aging factor EPS8 induces disease-related protein aggregation through RAC signaling hyperactivation - Nature Aging Aging is a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein aggregation. Here the authors identify age-related hyperactivation of EPS8/RAC signaling in C. elegans as a driver of path...

🚨 New from our lab: Here we explored how aging contributes to harmful protein aggregation in diseases like Huntington’s & ALS.
The culprit? An overlooked aging factor — EPS8 and RAC signaling. #Aging #Longevity #Proteostasis #ALSResearch
🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s43...

🧵How to write and manage your first research budgets

The point of funding is to convert it into quality research. A well-spent research budget should fund the idea it was raised on, plus revision experiments, plus preliminary data for the next grant. So you need to spend, while avoiding waste.

UCL Queen Square MND Centre Sixth ALS/MND International Symposium International Conference, in partnership with the UK MND Research Institute, on ALS / MND - TRANSLATING TARGETS TO THERAPIES

We are pleased to announce that the @ucl Queen Square Motor Neuron Disease Centre Sixth Hybrid #ALS/#MND International Symposium in Partnership will be held on Friday 5/9/25.

The theme is Translating Targets to Therapies.

To register, click below⬇️

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ucl-queen-...

Out today in @nature.com: Together with the Honigmann, Shevchenko, Drobot and Hof labs, we present a general workflow for imaging the localization and transport of individual lipids in cells and mapping their metabolism.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

LOV-BirA, light regulated biotin ligase, engineered by Song-Yi Lee

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Directed evolution of LaccID for cell surface proximity labeling and electron microscopy - Nature Chemical Biology LaccID, an engineered laccase, enables hydrogen-peroxide-free proximity labeling and electron microscopy (EM) in mammalian cells. Notably, LaccID is selectively active at the cell surface, enabling th...

A new paper from @aliceyting.bsky.social reports on LaccID, an engineered laccase, that enables hydrogen peroxide-free proximity labeling and electron microscopy of cell surfaces

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to share our latest work with @simonbullock11.bsky.social! We looked at how diverse mRNAs get selected for subcellular localization and it turns out that a single protein can recognize different RNA elements using shared features that weren’t apparent before.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep - Nature Research on Drosophila neurons shows links between the need to sleep and aerobic metabolism, indicating that the pressure to sleep may have a mitochondrial origin.

“Sleep, like ageing, may be a inescapable consequence of an aerobic metabolism” 🤔

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A personal message from 2022 chemistry laureate Carolyn Bertozzi to all young researchers on why to aspire to a career in science: ”I would want to share with them how a life in science is incredibly rewarding. It is rewarding because it is creative. You are discovering knowledge and gifting that to humanity for all of posterity. Once you learn something no one can take that away. It is not an object. It is an intellectual currency that will be shared throughout the generations. And you created that. It has a permanence that ironically a physical object doesn’t have. You can paint a painting, but eventually it will fade. But knowledge doesn’t fade. Knowledge stays with us forever and it becomes the foundation for the next generations.”

A motivating quote from @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social:
“…You are discovering knowledge and gifting that to humanity for all of posterity. Once you learn something no one can take that away. It is not an object. It is an intellectual currency that will be shared throughout the generations…”

Very excited to share our latest preprint! We looked at loss and gain of function, innervation, reinnervation, and in vivo axonal transport in a FUS-ALS mouse model!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

@uclqsion.bsky.social @beccasimkin.bsky.social @andrewtosolini.bsky.social @frattalab.bsky.social

An image montage advertising NeuroBioUK - 12th of September 2025 in York. The image is York cathedral superimposed over a fluorescent cortex mouse section coloured to look a bit like a dawn sky.

Registration is now open for NeuroBioUK 2025!
This year we're looking forward to hearing from our plenary speaker @cathyabbott.bsky.social. As ever, all other talks chosen from submitted abstracts so get submitting - we can't wait to see you there!

neurobiouk.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/registration

Drosophila Genetic Database The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

#drosophila @flybase.bsky.social request emergency funding:
"As it stands, by the end of July, 2025, there will be no future updates to FlyBase, and in the worst case scenario access to the website will also be lost" => please donate!

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

If you're struggling to visualise mouse NMJs, we've got a protocol just for you!

bio-protocol.org/en/bpdetail?...

Dissection and whole-mount immunofluorescent staining of mouse hind paw muscles for #NMJ analysis

Lovely work from Rebecca Simkin @uclqsion.bsky.social @nicolbirsa.bsky.social‬

A 🧵 to walk those interested through this paper...

Measurements of molecular size and shape on a chip Size and shape are critical discriminators between molecular species and states. We describe a microchip-based high-throughput imaging approach offering rapid and precise determination of molecular pr...

An amazing new enabling technology. Measurements of molecular size and shape on a chip. Couldn't be prouder of our friend Madhavi Krishnan of @ox.ac.uk this was and is one among the must fun collaborations I ever had. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Enhanced axonal transport in large vertebrates: KIF5A adaptations in giraffes and pythons Efficient axonal transport is essential for neuronal function, particularly in species with exceptionally long axons. The Kinesin-1 motor protein KIF5A plays a key role in this process, but whether an...

Finally! (remember the famous 2022 ASCB poster and Twitter discussion) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Divergent actions of physiological and pathological amyloid-β on synapses in live human brain slice cultures Nature Communications - Understanding synapse loss in Alzheimer’s disease has been hampered by a lack of human model systems. Here, the authors show that manipulation of physiological or...

Our paper in Nature Comms is now online! Summary below but in short we use living human brain slice cultures in a number of different ways to model dementia processes. Big team effort led by myself, @robertmcgeachan.bsky.social and @clairedurrant1.bsky.social rdcu.be/ej647

Loss of intracellular ATP affects axoplasmic viscosity and pathological protein aggregation in mammalian neurons The protective role of ATP in neurons reduces protein aggregation and neurodegeneration.

ATP - not only a fuel source! Intriguing work from Marco Terenzio and colleagues at the OIST

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

UCL Neuroscience Symposium 2025 The renowned UCL Neuroscience Symposium is celebrating its 16th year.

The UCL Neuroscience Symposium is just two months away!

The symposium is a great opportunity to hear inspiring talks and connect with other UCL neuroscientists across faculties.

Please share this post to help us get the word out. 🧠

ANXA11 biomolecular condensates facilitate protein-lipid phase coupling on lysosomal membranes - Nature Communications Nixon-Abell et al. show that ANXA11 condensation on lysosomal membranes causes a coupled phase transition of the underlying lipids and mechanical stiffening of the overall ensemble involved in RNP gra...

😊 Very happy to see this out! A real group effort from the Hyslop lab (@thecimr.bsky.social) including brilliant collaborations with
@knowleslab.bsky.social,
Vendruscolo lab, @michael-e-ward.bsky.social lab,
@deriverylab.bsky.social lab,
@profmarciniak.bsky.social lab
🎉🎉🎉

Very proud of team member Dr. Ellie Rhymes for coming Highly Commended in MDUK's Early Career Scientist of the Year Award:

www.musculardystrophyuk.org/news/preside...

@mdukcharity.bsky.social @uclqsion.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social