News

August 2023

We are looking forward to participating at the Scientifica in September 2023! Join us for fun discussions, lab tours and lots more! Further information could be found here.

Date: 02.09.2023
Time: 12:00-18:00
Location: Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, UZH

July 2023

Our latest study published in the EMBO Journal shows that the loss of TDP-43 oligomerization and RNA binding promotes diverse TDP-43 pathologies and provides insight into the origins of heterogeneous pathologies occurring in human disease.

One more distinction for our Manuela Perez-Berlanga. She was a recipient of the Brain Diseases Award from the UZH Foundation! Congratulations!

June 2023

Congratulations to Manuela Perez-Berlanga for receiving a distinction from the Faculty of Sciences for her PhD Thesis!

Very proud of Laura De Vos for receiving the highly competitive CanDoc fellowship from the University of Zurich!

May 2023

Congratulations to Magda for becoming an NIBR Global Scholar! Read more here and here.

Photo by Pascal Halder (www.naturphotos.ch)

December 2022

Our collaborative work with the Lagier-Tourenne lab and Neurimmune on anti-poly-GA immunotherapy is finally published!

November 2022

We are so proud of the amazing Dr. Manuela Perez-Berlanga for defending her PhD thesis with flying colors! And the T-Rexes were FlpIN!!

September 2022

Congratulations Dr. Pierre De Rossi for receiving the Stuart Berry ZNZ Poster Award!

We are grateful for the support of Target ALS and ADDF on our collaborative project with the University of Verona and Trieste International School for Advanced Studies. We will work towards the development of a diagnostic test for TDP-43 proteinopathies using nasal swabs.

June 2022

At her interview with the ZNZ Magda explained the focus and approach of our ERC project. Read it here.

We are participating at the Science And Nature Festival - June 11th at Irchel!

May 2022

Check out our new commentary on fantastic work on Tau phase separation by the Wegmann lab.

Congratulations to our Carlo Scialo for receiving the Silvia Zucchelli prize for the best PhD thesis from the International School for Advanced Studies! Well-deserved!

March 2022

We are an ERC-CoG recipient lab! Thrilled about this amazing opportunity to investigate physiopathological transitions of TDP-43. For more information see here: https://www.media.uzh.ch/en/Press-Releases/2022/ERC-Consolidator-Grants.html

December 2021

Our Sinergia application together with the labs of Ben Schuler, Fred Allain and Gunnar Jenschke was approved by the SNF.

In 2022 we will be able to actively continue our great collaboration with these groups!

Dr. Vera Wiersma did it again! She was just awarded the prestigious Rubicon Research Grant from the Dutch Research Council for her project "Out of phase! Protein aggregation in ALS pathogenesis". Congratulations Dr. Wiersma. You make us proud!

November 2021

Ruchi, along with her team has been awarded the 2nd IndiaBioscience Outreach Grant for her podcast named "IndiaAsksWhy". IndiaBioscience is a Science outreach initiative primarily funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. In this podcast series, the two characters Utsuka & Jigyasa ask and answer common questions students may ask in day-to-day life. Scientists from varied fields also join to help them understand the answers.

Our new study just published in EMBO Reports shows that distinct TDP-43 pathologies can be reproduced in simple cellular systems.

We are very proud of Johanna Furrer for receiving the Semester Prize for her Master Thesis work in our lab. Congratulations Johanna!

Congratulations to Manuela Perez Berlanga for being selected to participate in the Global Young Scientists Summit 2022 out of 1700 candidates worldwide. What an exciting opportunity!

October 2021

Our new spotlight was just published in Neuron!

September 2021

Our lab has moved to UZI5!

August 2021

Our new collaborative work together with the labs of Adriano Aguzzi, Matthias Jucker and many others was just published in EMBO Molecular Medicine!

July 2021

Pierre and Julien will be swimming, biking and running at the Uster Triathlon on July 18th. They are fundraising for the Stiftung Synapsis Alzheimer Forschung Schweiz! Click here for more information and to support their cause.

June 2021

Meet Magda and the PolyLab in 60''.

May 2021

Our two papers on the role of synaptic FUS in ALS are out! Fantastic collaboration with the labs of Luc Dupuis, Sabine Liebscher and Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne. Read more about the work here.

January 2021

We are excited to work in collaboration with EPFL and SunRegen to test the efficacy of a small neuroprotective compound on ALS/FTD.

We are thrilled to initiate our first R21 grant, recently awarded by NINDS, aiming at testing an immunotherapy approach for ALS/FTD.

December 2020

We are so proud of our Pierre De Rossi for receiving the prestigious Career Development Award from the Synapsis foundation!

Congratulations to our Vera for receiving the highly competitive long-term postdoctoral fellowship from the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.
Well done Vera!

October 2020

Our new review on the role of liquid-liquid phase separation in neurodegenerative diseases is out in Developmental Cell. A special treat to all Star Wars fans out there. May the force be with you.

The Polymenidou group receives competitive EU Consortium Grant.
Read the details on the DQBM News webpage.

August 2020

Read here Magda's publication: "A gut feeling about C9ORF72".
Take advantage here of a 50 days' free access to read and download Magda's article with no sign up, registration or fees required until October 16, 2020!

July 2020

Celebrating Sonu's and Kathi's PhD defences!

May 2020

Congratulations to Magda for being awarded the 2018/2019 Franco Regli Prize!

April 2020

Kathi successfully defended her PhD! Congratulations!

March 2020

Congratulations on successfully defending your PhD, Sonu!

December 2019

Happy Holidays from the PolyLab!

Congratulations Julien for winning the Best Lab Manager Award 2019!

November 2019

Our SarkoSpin method was published in Bioprotocol.

October 2019

Magda was appointed Associate Professor for Biomedicine at the University of Zurich.

July 2019

Our lab just received an FTD Biomarker Initiative grant award from AFTD to develop biomarkers for FTD patients!

June 2019

New review out on structural transition, function and dysfunction of TDP-43 in neurodegenerative diseases.

December 2018

New publication with our collaborators from ETH, Frederic Allain and colleagues, describing the structural properties of the RNA binding domains of FUS.

Our manuscript on TDP-43 strains was just published in Nature Neuroscience along with an insightful news and views piece from Barbieri and Shorter.

October 2018

Magda was named among the "45 below 45" most cited Greek scientists in an article published by a major Greek newspaper.

August 2018

New study published with our collaborators Isabelle Mansuy, Ali Jawaid and colleagues showing defective miRNA biogenesis in ALS and FTD.

Our new study on the dynamic translocation of FUS to the cytosol is highlighted at the HFSP website.

July 2018

Press release on our new paper by Alzforum.

Read here our latest paper on the role of cellular stress in the initiation of FUS pathology.

May 2018

Read Magda's latest Perspective on the role of RNA in the formation of phase separated granules.

April 2018

A new review on protein phase separation that Magda contributed to was just published at Trends in Cell Biology.

May 2018

Great News! Our lab received a Therapeutic Idea Award from the US Department of Defense. We are excited to work with Dr. Lagier-Tourenne's lab from MGH on this collaborative project!

October 2017

Congratulations Magda for receiving the EMBO Young Investigator Award!

Our collaborative work on GFP-complementation and TDP-43 was just published in Scientific Reports!

September 2017

The Motor Neurone Disease Australia highlights our study on TDP-43 oligomerization on their International research update!

August 2017

The SNF funding for our lab was extended for another two years!

Magda received an Investigator Initiated Award by the ALS Association!

July 2017

Our study on TDP-43 oligomerization featured by the Faculty of Science of our University!

Our paper on physiological TDP-43 oligomerization is finally out!

June 2017

The Joining Forces Symposium focused on Protein Aggregation in Health and Disease that Magda co-organized together with colleagues at the ETH Zurich was a big success! We were all there and enjoyed two days of fascinating talks and intense discussions.

January 2017

Our lab receives a Target ALS Consortium grant to test the efficacy of anti-DPR immunotherapy for C9 ALS.

Our lab receives SNF Sinergia grant! We are excited to team up with the groups of Ben Schuler, Fred Allain, GunnarJeschke and Paolo Paganetti to study the role of disordered regions in RNA-binding proteins for function and pathology.

September 2015

New open access review on the role of small RNAs in human disease with colleagues from the Clinical Research Priority Programs is published.

July 2015

Congratulations Marian for receiving the Milton Safenowitz Post Doctoral Fellowship from ALSA.

New report supporting prion-like propagation events in ALS was just published from our collaborators at King’s college and UCSD. Read article here.

June 2015

Congratulations to Marian for receiving a Forschungskredit from University of Zurich.

May 2015

Evi presents our research at the European ALS meeting in Dublin.

April 2015

Congratulations to Magda! She received a Research Grant from the Research Talent Development Fund (FAN) of the University of Zurich.

Magda receives the Georg-Friedrich-Götz Prize from the President of the University, Michael Hengartner. Read more on UZH News and on ZNZ Newsletter.

March 2015

Congrats to Sonu for receiving a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship for her PhD!

We are very excited that Magda will join the NCCR RNA & Disease as a Junior Principal Investigator!

February 2015

Read our new review on prion-like events in ALS here.

January 2015

Florent and Magda describe the current understanding of ALS pathogenesis here.

Congratulations to Marian! His project was funded by the Swiss Foundation for Research on Neuromuscular Disease!

December 2014

Congratulations to Tariq! His project was funded by the Novartis Research Foundation!

The lab trains 2 students from the RNA block course.

Magda goes to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to present our research at the international meeting on "Neurodegenerative Disease: Biology & Therapeutics".

The Alzforum website highlights a new study on TDP-43 and asks Magda to comment on it. Read the story “TDP-43 Structure Reveals Two-Faced Amino End” here.