© Manu Friederich / Universität Bern
ESR 3 vision / project
ESR 3
Comparison of mouse and zebrafish cerebral endothelial cell transcriptomes and functional investigation of conserved pathways governing brain angiogenesis and BBB formation
Project Results
The brain vasculature is vital for adequate functioning of the central nervous system, creating a unique and stable microenvironment for neuron activity by tightly controlling the entry of molecules and cells across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Despite recent advances in understanding brain angiogenesis and barrier induction, the transcriptional regulation and molecular pathways involved in the various stages of brain vascular development and barrier formation remain to be uncovered. To unravel novel genes and pathways involved in BBB functioning in vivo, we isolated zebrafish BBB endothelial cells and analyzed their genome-wide transcription landscape. To acquire an evolutionary conserved BBB geneset, cross-species bioinformatic comparison of the zebrafish BBB transcriptome to analogous expression datasets from mouse embryos was performed. Candidate genes were selected of which the alleged role in BBB function is under current investigation.
Awards
| Fondation Rose et Jean Hoguet, Bourse de Doctorat |
| Fonds Jean Brachet Formations, Travel Grant |
Status (2022)
Raoul is still finalizing his PhD thesis. He should defend before the summer of this year
BtRAIN publications
Advancing brain barriers RNA sequencing: guidelines from experimental design to publication. Francisco DMF, Marchetti L, Rodríguez-Lorenzo S, Frías-Anaya E, Figueiredo RM; BtRAIN Network, Winter P, Romero IA, de Vries HE, Engelhardt B, Bruggmann R. Fluids Barriers CNS. 2020 Aug 18;17(1):51. doi: 10.1186/s12987-020-00207-2.
Low wnt/β-catenin signaling determines leaky vessels in the subfornical organ and affects water homeostasis in mice. Benz F, Wichitnaowarat V, Lehmann M, Germano RF, Mihova D, Macas J, Adams RH, Taketo MM, Plate KH, Guérit S, Vanhollebeke B, Liebner S. Elife. 2019 Apr 1;8:e43818. doi: 10.7554/eLife.43818.
Hosting institution
Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Laboratory of Neurovascular Signaling, Belgium
Supervisor
Benoit Vanhollebeke
Early Stage Researcher
Raoul Freitas Vale Germano
