Giulia Casal, PhD
@giuliacasal.bsky.social
Blood Nerve Barrier & Schwann cells, currently Lloyd Lab UCL, BSc UniFribourg 🇨🇭🇮🇹
We are organising a trainee pre-meeting ahead of the EMBO Workshop @embo.org @isrbio.bsky.social If you’re an undergrad/MSc/PhD or postdoc interested in regenerative biology, join us in Vienna for trainee talks, networking, and discussions with keynote speakers about their scientific journey.
This exciting paper is now out in PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
3D epithelial cell topology tunes signaling range to promote precise patterning | PNAS
Cell behaviors in multicellular organisms are coordinated via both diffusible molecules and by signals based on direct cell–cell contacts. The mode...
pnas.org
Yanlan Mao@yanlanmao.bsky.social · last yr.An exciting new paper from the lab! Check it out:
Research Assistant position in the Lloyd lab!! Please share 🙏🏼 Exciting opportunity to work on peripheral glia at UCL @lmcb-ucl.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
ucl.ac.uk
Our paper is now out in Science! Super excited to share our discovery that #mitochondria #pearling is the elusive mechanism driving the regular distribution and inheritance of #mtDNA nucleoids 🧬 [1/6]
I'm so pleased to see this work on neural crest development out in Nature today! This was a truly fantastic collaboration with @gleesonlab.bsky.social, Keng loi (Harry) Vong and @xiaoxuyang.bsky.social. Huge thanks to everyone involved 👏 🧪🐣 #devbio www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Latest offering. How myelin ensheathes axons! Born from chat with Dwight Bergles on "weird things" we saw oligodendrocytes do, like making "bridges" between sheaths. Driven forward by Cody Call, Kelly Monk, and myelin folks @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social Enjoy! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Flexible ensheathment of axons enables myelination of complex CNS networks - Nature
The rate of axon ensheathment varies within individual myelinating processes, resulting in chains of myelin sheaths connected by bridges consisting of thin cytoplasmic processes that provide ...
nature.com
All data in this work are beautiful – look at this 3-day timelapse of in vivo myelination along a zebrafish axon! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Interested in joining a dynamic, interdisciplinary research department? A call is open for Group Leaders at the UCL Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology. Please submit your expression of interest by April 13, 2026. Further details here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Excited to share this collaborative work with @sarathomasy.bsky.social- spearheaded by Raneesh Ramarapu and William Stoehr- where we visualized the unique spatial localization of tubulin isotopes in neural crest-derived corneal tissues during development. 🤩
bioRxiv Developmental Biology@biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social · 6mo agoA molecular and spatial resource defining tubulin isotype organization during corneal development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706651v1
Latest from the lab, led by @ara-donia.bsky.social and @juliavdkorput.bsky.social Huge team effort, with immense contributions by friends from nearby and around the globe. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Myelin sheaths in the central nervous system can withstand damage and dynamically remodel
Myelin damage is a hallmark of several neurological disorders, but how it occurs remains to be fully understood. In this study, we found that early damage in zebrafish and rodent demyelination models ...
science.org
A protein called Uninflatable acts as a switch between glial cells growing and glial cells wrapping themselves around axons. 🔗 buff.ly/WRdybO3
Latest paper from the Lloyd lab is out! Beautiful work by my best PhD (now both postdoc) lab-mate Alex 🥳🥳🥳 Microenvironmental TGF-β is an early driver of NF1-associated tumor formation: Cell Reports www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Microenvironmental TGF-β is an early driver of NF1-associated tumor formation
Power et al. identify TGF-β as the injury microenvironment signal required for neurofibroma formation, enabling the expansion of Nf1-KO SCs outside of a repairing nerve by blocking axonal interactions...
cell.com
I don't always get pretty, isolated, AND transfected primary neurons in culture, but when I do I take advantage.... Rat hippocampal neuron overexpressing ThymosinB4-mScarlet and imaged for 16hr on a @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social LSM880 with Airyscan. #FluorescenceFriday #Microscopy
We mapped the whole human fallopian tube in 3D and at single-cell resolution via our CODA workflow. More about this work here: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Are you studying synapses in electron microscopy? Tired of annotating vesicles? We have the tool for you! SynapseNet implements automatic segmentation and analysis of vesicles and other synaptic structures and has now been published: www.molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10....
Can't believe it — my first‑author paper is out and my image graces the cover of @dev-journal.bsky.social 🎉 Here, we reveal how early developmental programs shape and maintain #zebrafish gill architecture throughout life 🔗 journals.biologists.com/dev/issue/15... #FluorescenceFriday #LifelongDevSI
I will give the UCL Prize Lecture in Life and Medical Sciences. If you are in London on December 3, come say hello. Registration is required but free: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ucl-prize-...
UCL Prize Lecture in Life and Medical Sciences 2025
The UCL Prize Lecture in Life and Medical Sciences is a prize awarded annually since 1997 to individuals who have excelled in these fields.
eventbrite.co.uk
🧵 BREAKING: Gene therapy shows promise in slowing Huntington’s disease progression. A major milestone in neurodegenerative disease research. @uclqsion.bsky.social @ucl-hd.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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.
bbc.co.uk
We are proud to present a Special Issue on Cancer Neuroscience, curated by editors Bennie Babayan & Ted Dobie. This issue offers a snapshot of the field through a collection of Perspectives, Reviews, and NeuroViews: cell.com/neuron/issue.... See below for details on the pieces:
Yesterday.. our #CLEM with Julia Gutjahr and Antal Rot was featured in the main Science webpage....☺️ Nice to see #correlativemicroscopy and #volumeEM up front and centre. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
FBXW7 regulates MYRF levels to control myelin capacity and homeostasis in the adult central nervous system - Nature Communications
The homeostasis of myelin in the central nervous system is highly regulated, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, the authors show that the FBXW7 protein has a role in constraining myelin ...
nature.com
It's a wrap. The Biannual ISRB Meeting has ended. Stay tuned this week as we reflect on exciting science, honour our Lifetime Achievement and Rising Star Awardees and reflect on all we have learnt about regeneration this past week. #ISRB2025
Courtney @courtneyl7a7.bsky.social has written a lovely piece on this wonderful community initiative we’ve been running for 5 years at UCL - have a read! And follow @biig-ucl.bsky.social !
FocalPlane @focalplane.bsky.social · last yr.📢New post on FocalPlane - Connecting Researchers Through Bioimaging: Reflections from UCL’s BioImage Interest Group Courtney Lancaster @courtneyl7a7.bsky.social reflects on the success of the BioImage Interest Group at UCL, offering a template for other communities.
Another beautiful study by the lab of @andyshihlab.bsky.social published today in @natureportfolio.nature.com 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 #cerebrovascular #aging
Impaired capillary–venous drainage contributes to gliosis and demyelination in mouse white matter during aging - Nature Neuroscience
How reduced blood flow plays a role in progressive white matter loss during aging and associated cognitive decline is unclear. Here the authors show that selective constriction and rarefaction of capi...
doi.org
@isrbio.bsky.social #isrb2025 has started and we had a great time at the pre-conference trainee meeting, organised by us, the monthly trainee meeting organisers (Salome Stierli, Grave Schulz, Matt Cherubino, Jackson Griffiths, Carlos Barradas Chacon) - none of them have bsky!
