Neurodegeneration-inducing macromolecules exit the brain via nanovascular conduits formed by reticular fibroblasts https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.21.752863v1
Philip Hasel
@philiphasel.bsky.social
Group Leader and Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Edinburgh University. Interested in astrocytes at brain borders.
Thrilled to share: we show that neuronal hyperactivity drives C1q-mediated synapse loss via brain-recruited B cell/IgM, revealing unexpected neuroimmune crosstalk in the adult brain. Congrats to Gerard Crowley who led this w/ resilience & creativity & our whole team! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
C1q and immunoglobulins mediate activity-dependent synapse loss in the adult brain
Complement component 1q (C1q), the initiator of the classical complement cascade, mediates synaptic elimination in development and disease, yet the triggers for its deposition on synapses remain uncle...
science.org
Final meeting of the organising committee! We are so excited to see you all 😆 @drmyelin.bsky.social @philiphasel.bsky.social @izzynchristie.bsky.social @dr-vmosienko.bsky.social @lucywheatley.bsky.social Safe travels - see you in Bristol
Wills Memorial Building is the tall grand building at the top of Park Street. See you there Monday morning 😆 #excited #can'twait #7moresleeps #sciencefriends #sciencefun
Astrocytes transform the transcriptomic and epigenetic landscape of developing cortical neurons to promote activity via intrinsic excitability control https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.17.725732v1
🚨 New preprint on bioRxiv! Pericyte loss triggers hypoperfusion, BBB dysfunction, endothelial VCAM-1/type I IFN activation, venular-like transitions & delayed white matter injury linked to human SVD signatures. Congrats Dr. Dorota Stefancova & team! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
UK Glia 2026 in Bristol unites researchers across career stages to explore glial biology, brain physiology, neurodegeneration and neuropsychiatric disorders. Date - Mon 08 - Tue 09 Jun 2026 Location - University of Bristol, UK www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/event/uk-gli...
UK Glia Network 2nd meeting - DEMENTIA RESEARCHER
UK Glia 2026, Bristol. Unites researchers across career stages to explore glial biology, brain physiology, neurodegeneration and neuropsychiatric disorders.
dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk
📢 The final programme is live! 📢 Check it out 👀 www.physoc.org/events/uk-gl...
UK Glia 2026
UK Glia 2026 meeting will highlight the pivotal role of glia in brain physiology, offering invaluable insights for those investigating glia function in both health and disease. Find out more about the...
physoc.org
Astrocytes do so much more than any of us thought - they even communicate among specific brain regions across hemispheres! The journey to this paper spanned nearly a decade, but I'm most excited to see what everyone else does with the tools we've built. There's so much for all of us to explore!
Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic networks - Nature
Communication between distant brain regions is mediated by plastic networks of gap junction-coupled astrocytes.
nature.com
New work from our team, led by the incredible @emily-hill.bsky.social out today @cp-neuron.bsky.social. Including some exciting additions from our prepint. Thread below! authors.elsevier.com/a/1ms0u3BtfH...
Incredibly proud of this paper led by @ossamaghenissa.bsky.social and @mathiasgua.bsky.social titled Basolateral 'Amygdala Astrocytes Encode Anxiety States'. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt... 🧵 below
Basolateral amygdala astrocytes encode anxiety states
Ghenissa et al. provide evidence that basolateral amygdala astrocytes reliably encode anxiety states. Using simultaneous in vivo calcium recordings across an array of behavioral tasks, combined with g...
cell.com
🚨 PhD Programme – Vascular Dementia Research New 4-year PhD funded by BHF & UK DRI on vascular mechanisms in dementia. Training across UCL, Oxford, Leicester & Edinburgh with lab rotations. 📅 Deadline: 14 April 🎓 Start: Sept 2026 Apply: CV + statement + 2 refs → neurophd@ucl.ac.uk Please share!
The first event of 2026 in our seminar series is on Weds 21st January at 2pm. Presented by @philiphasel.bsky.social of @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, hosted by Dr Ingo Schiessl. Details on poster - all welcome! 🧠 #neuroscienceseminar #neuroscience #manchesterneuroscience
Thrilled to wrap up the year and my postdoc work in the Nester lab with this publication 🥳! We show that astrocytic CREB regulates astrocyte calcium and D1-MSN activity to drive behavioral response to cocaine. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41406210/
"Defining the molecular identity and morphology of glia limitans superficialis astrocytes in vertebrates" http://dlvr.it/TPKJSH @liddelowsa.bsky.social @philiphasel.bsky.social & colleagues @cp-cellreports.bsky.social #SfN2025
Check out our new review article from my lab: doi.org/10.1111/jnc....
Crosstalk Between Astrocytes and Inhibitory Neurons During Maturation: Emerging Mechanisms and Functional Implications
In this review, we discuss the development and maturation of inhibitory neurons and astrocytes and how early developmental activity in the brain might promote the interactions between these cell type...
doi.org
Finally it’s here! 🌟⬇️ www.nature.com/articles/s41... I’m sooo excited to share our latest article led by Steve Hill and Isabel Bravo-Ferrer 1- How does the vasculature communicate with astrocytes? 2- Is this communication dependent to what happens in the body. 3- Is it relevant to human diseases?
Fig. 1: Establishment of methods to identify astrocyte endfoot proteins. | Nature Communications
nature.com
Really excited to announce that the Holt lab will be starting in January 2026 in the Center for Substance Use Research at Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine. Interested in the role of gene regulation, astrocytes, and addiction? I'm hiring at all positions-DM or email me! l-holt-lab.com
📢 June 8th-9th 2026 Bristol University 📢 We have partnered with @physoc.bsky.social to organise the 2nd meeting Bristol. It is a privilege to announce Professor Baljit Khakh, FRS will join us in the UK. Check out the exciting programme here: www.physoc.org/events/uk-gl... #neuroskyence #glia
UK Glia 2026
UK Glia 2026 meeting will highlight the pivotal role of glia in brain physiology, offering invaluable insights for those investigating glia function in both health and disease. Find out more about the...
physoc.org
Thrilled to share our new paper @cp-cell.bsky.social: “Microglia–astrocyte crosstalk regulates synapse remodeling via Wnt signaling.” This work demonstrates the necessity of glia–glia communication and coordination during synapse remodeling. 🔗 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Faust et al., Cell 2025
Hello world! We just released a thing! In this preprint we provide evidence questioning the ability of the axon initial segment to undergo rapid structural plasticity in intact neurons from mouse, rat, and human cortex.
bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · last yr.Absence of short-term axon initial segment plasticity in human, mouse, and rat cortical circuits https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.01.672986v1
Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic gap junctional networks https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.18.665573v1
So grateful to the @wellcometrust.bsky.social for investing in me... believing in me. It's hard to believe in yourself sometimes. Science is going really well and I am thrilled to be back in the lab wellcome.org/research-fun...
Hyperpolarised 129Xe Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopic Brain Oximetry - Grants Awarded | Wellcome
Hyperpolarised 129Xe Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopic Brain Oximetry
wellcome.org
Amyloid-β induces lipid droplet-mediated microglial dysfunction via the enzyme DGAT2 in Alzheimer’s disease: @cp-immunity.bsky.social www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
For those who want a distraction and/ or are interested, here's the latest from the group, led by Phil Braaker www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Activity-driven myelin sheath growth is mediated by mGluR5 - Nature Neuroscience
Employing pharmacology, genetics and all-optical approaches in zebrafish, Braaker et al. find that neuronal activity influences the growth of myelin sheaths along axons by signaling through metabotrop...
nature.com
Dear immune/glia lovers of brain, gut and beyond… We’re looking for a lab tech/manager to join our team! Pls see details for application here ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/se… @ukdri.ac.uk @uclqsion.bsky.social - pls help circulate among networks who’d be of interest, thank you!
ucl.ac.uk
Our perspective in @natrevimmunol.nature.com on new concepts in neuroimmune interactions that have challenged the old dogma that immune privilege is a result of the isolation of the nervous and immune systems. @jonykipnis.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Redefining CNS immune privilege - Nature Reviews Immunology
In this Perspective, Smyth and Kipnis reappraise the concept of immune privilege in the central nervous system. Although immune privilege was originally thought to involve isolation of the central ner...
nature.com