[The Svedberg seminar] – Following spatial and temporal chemical changes in neurobiology
May 27, 2024 @ 15:15 – 16:15 CEST
Wojciech Michno
Assistant Professor, SciLifeLab Fellow
Uppsala University
Bio
Wojciech Michno is a neurochemistry researcher whose work focuses on studying spatial and temporal chemical changes in the brain to aid the understanding of neurological diseases. He obtained his PhD at the University of Gothenburg, followed by three years as a postdoctoral researcher, at University College London, and Stanford University, before joining the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, at Uppsala University. His group works at the intersection of stem cell biology and analytical chemistry, to understand how pathology-related local microenvironments and cell-specific phenotype changes contribute to the development and progression of neurological diseases, such as neurodegeneration and cancer.
Following spatial and temporal chemical changes in neurobiology
Understanding “What’s happening in the human brain”, has always been challenging. For a long time, this has hampered our strategies to address diverse neurological conditions ranging from neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration, but also cancer. Yet recent advances in stem cell-derived complex 3D models of the brain, genetic engineering, and state-of-the-art molecular and chemical imaging techniques open a new path to understanding the human brain. These approaches allow us to not only capture the end stages of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease but also follow them over time. For the first time, we can study the cellular phenotypes associated with cell-specific interactions from the spatial as well as temporal standpoint. This allows us to understand both the short- and the long-term consequences of genetically or environmentally induced insults to brain homeostasis.
In this talk, I will present some of the work related to revisiting the core of neuropathological changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and how chemical imaging techniques can be leveraged to understand the previously inaccessible events in the pathology development. I will also address opportunities and limitations of combining cutting-edge stem cell biology and chemistry, in studying the mechanism underlying environmentally associated pathological changes in Alzheimer’s disease and beyond.
Host: Stina Syvänen stina.syvanen@pubcare.uu.se
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