Principal Investigator
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Magdalini is Associate Professor for Biomedicine at the Department of Quantitative Biomedicine of the University of Zurich. She is fascinated by the molecular events that lead to neurodegeneration and has been studying these phenomena since 2001. Originally trained as a pharmacist in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), she did her PhD on prion diseases in the laboratory of Adriano Aguzzi at the University Hospital of Zurich (Switzerland). As a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Don Cleveland at the University of California in San Diego (USA), she used high-throughput sequencing approaches to understand the function of TDP-43 and FUS, two RNA-binding proteins that are associated with the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She joined UZH as an SNSF Assistant Professor in 2013 and since then, her research team studies the molecular mechanisms of ALS and FTD with emphasis on the interplay between protein aggregation and RNA misregulation. Magdalini was awarded the EMBO Young Investigator Award (2018), the Georg-Friedrich Götz Prize (2015), the SNSF Professorship (2013), the HFSP Career Development Award (2013) and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (2011). She is actively working for gender equality in academia and serves on the Gender Equality Committee of the Neuroscience Center Zurich since 2014. When not in the lab, Magdalini enjoys family time, especially with her two sons, Lennart, born in San Diego in September 2012 and Kilian, born in Zurich in 2018.
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Postdoctoral fellows
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Marian was born in Trencin, Slovakia and studied Biology at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. He completed his master thesis during his Slovak Gas Industry (SPP) Foundation fellowship at the University of Copenhagen. Marian did his PhD at the Charles University in Prague and at the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, where he was involved in the generation and characterization of the transgenic Huntington’s disease minipig model. During his EMBO Short-Term fellowship at the University of Aarhus, he studied the first minipig brains expressing mutant huntingtin and was also involved in the mapping of the pig telencephalon. He was a visiting graduate student at the University of California in San Diego where he focused on the development of cell and gene therapies for ALS. After defending his PhD thesis in 2013, and a short postdoctoral work at UCSD, Marian joined the Polymenidou lab in August 2014. In his postdoctoral studies, he aims to understand the relative contribution of the different pathogenic mechanisms thought to cause ALS and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTD) in patients with C9ORF72 hexanucleotide expansions. He also aims to identify the molecular mechanisms involved in sporadic ALS using iPSC-derived motor neurons. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and recreational basketball and biking.
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Pierre is a French neuroscientist. During his Ph.D. at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, he studied the role of VEGF in the regulation of NMDA receptor trafficking at the synapse. After his Ph.D., Pierre did a short postdoc on deciphering cellular mechanisms involved in limbic encephalitis before starting a new position at the University of Chicago. As a postdoc in Chicago, Pierre joined Pr. Gopal Thinakaran’s team to work on the cellular biology of Alzheimer’s disease. Pierre’s project was focused on exploring the role of BIN1, the second genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He described for the first time the physiological expression of BIN1 in the brain of human and rodents, and the association of BIN1 with amyloid deposits. Pierre also worked on the role of BIN1 at the synapse and the role of BIN1 during myelination in maturating oligodendrocytes. During his postdoc, Pierre used various animal models to explore cellular and physiological questions. In the Polymenidou group, Pierre plans to develop a new animal model to study the seeding and the proliferation of TDP-43 pathology using human-TDP-43 extracts in vivo. Such a model would bring new insights on the pathological processes involved in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), two fatal neurodegenerative diseases for which no treatment to cure or slow down disease progression is yet available. This model will offer opportunities for testing new potential treatment(s). Outside of the lab, Pierre likes to play music, watching tv-shows, hiking, biking, swimming and traveling, and have fun.
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PhD Students
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Sonu comes from Kerala, India where she completed her studies in Biotechnology at the Amrita School of Biotechnology. After defending her master thesis at the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), she continued to work on a project on understanding the role of glycans in regeneration. Later, discovering her interest in molecular neuroscience, she joined the Centre for Brain Development and Repair at inStem and worked on understanding the role of fragile X mental retardation protein in posttranscriptional regulation and activity-mediated protein synthesis at synapses. She joined the Polylab in January 2015 and she is investigating the early synaptic dysfunction in ALS and FTD. In her free time, she enjoys meeting friends, travelling, watching movies and cooking.
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Katharina was born in Germany and studied Bioinformatics at the Ludwig-Maximilian University and Technical University Munich. She started her PhD in November 2015 as a collaboration between the Polymenidou and Robinson labs. She helps the people contributes to several projects in the lab with the analysis of different types of RNA sequencing data. She also develops a method for the identification and correct quantification of cryptic exons from RNA-seq data. In her free time, Kathi likes to go on bike/hiking trips and she enjoys reading and cooking.
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Manuela was born in Spain and studied Biochemistry at the Autonomous University of Madrid. During this time, she came to Zurich for a summer as part of the Biology Undergraduate Summer School (BUSS). She then moved to Germany in 2015 to continue her studies with a Master in Biology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. She finished her Master Thesis in the lab of Prof. Ulrich Hartl, where she worked on protein aggregation in ALS and FTD. After a year working as a research assistant, she joined the Polymenidou lab in September 2017 to start her PhD on the mechanisms of TDP-43 toxicity in neurodegeneration. Outside the lab, she enjoys movies, series, books and good food.
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Aurélie comes from Zurich, Switzerland. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Zurich. After an internship at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics at the University of Oxford she decided to search for a master thesis that combines her two passions: Biochemistry and Neurobiology. Aurélie is interested in determining the full structure of TDP-43, to gain further understanding on how and why the protein misbehaves in ALS patients. After successfully defending her master thesis, Aurélie decided to stay with us for her PhD starting in December 2018. Outside the lab, she enjoys different kinds of sports and time with her friends and family.
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Elena is originally from Italy where she studied Pharmacy at the University of Pavia. In her final year she decided to pursue a career in scientific research, which is the reason why she spent a year at Imperial College London working for her master’s thesis in the field of sciatic nerve and spinal cord regeneration. After graduating, she moved to Barcelona for two years and worked at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) investigating the molecular mechanism of axonal injury and regeneration using state-of-art techniques such as PMDS compartmentalized culture and super resolution microscopy (nSTORM). In January 2019 she joined the PolyLab as a PhD student where she tries to elucidate mechanisms of toxicity of TDP-43 and FUS in neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and FTD. Outside the lab she likes playing volleyball and working out at the gym, but she also loves watching TV series and movies on lazy days.
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Master Students
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Johanna grew up in Lucerne, Switzerland and studied Biomedicine at the University of Zurich. During her undergraduate studies, she did an internship at the institute for medical virology at the University of Zurich. In her final year of study, her interest in neurobiology and especially in neurological disorders grew and she decided to pursue a Master Degree in Neuroscience. In the Polylab Johanna tries to develop new cellular models to investigate the mechanism of TDP-43-associated pathologies. In her free time, Johanna enjoys hiking, skiing, reading, sewing and spending time with friends and family.
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Mikhail is originally from Kaliningrad, Russia. He moved to Switzerland in 2013, where he studied Life Sciences and Technology at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and did his bachelor thesis designing PDMS microstructures to study fibrous tissue regeneration. During his master in Bioengineering, also at EPFL, Mikhail joined the Lashuel laboratory to study aggregation of Tau and its acetylation mimetics. He also performed a 6-month internship at AC Immune working towards the development of diagnostic and therapeutic antibodies for ALS. After completing a project on production and purification of AAV viruses for gene therapy at Bernard Schneider laboratory, Mikhail joined the Polylab to investigate the role TDP-43 oligomerization in disease. Outside of the lab, Mikhail enjoys skiing and snowboarding, as well as learning new languages.
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Laura comes from a small village in Belgium and studied Biochemistry & Biotechnology at the University of Ghent. During her studies, she developed a keen interest in neurobiology and decided to join the Polymenidou group for her Master’s thesis. Here she studies the role of TDP-43 misregulation in ALS and FTLD. She aims to develop this passion into a long-lasting career path. She likes to spend her leisure time bouldering, cooking and venturing into nature with her Border collie.
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Pre-Doc Students
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Tomas comes from Kosice, Slovakia. After finishing his undergraduate studies in Biology at Comenius University in Bratislava, he moved to Prague, Czech Republic where he studied Molecular Biology, Genetics and Virology at Charles University. During his studies in Prague he became interested in all things related to RNA. His Master thesis, as well as his internship at University College London, were focused on the role of canonical RNA interference pathway in mammals. In January 2019 he joined NCCR’s RNA Biology and Disease pre-doc program which allowed him to spend four months in three different laboratories across Switzerland, including the Scheiffele group in the Biozentrum, Basel and the Schratt group in ETH, Zurich. In the Polymenidou group, Tomas wants to describe aggregation properties of TDP-43 produced in vitro and compare them to TDP-43 isolated from patient samples. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, experimenting in his kitchen, playing video games and listening to podcasts or audiobooks.
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Lab Manager
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Julien was born in the small town of Epinal in France. He studied Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Lorraine, Nancy. After several months of experience in different laboratories in Paris and in the USA, he moved to Zurich in September 2009. Since then, has worked in several labs at UZH and in the CovalX company, where he enriched his knowledge in multiple techniques (proteomics, molecular biology, animal experimentation) as well as in lab organisation. In May 2017, he joined the Polymenidou group as a Lab Manager. Outside the lab he enjoys reading, going to the movies with his friends, running, swimming and crocheting cute amigurumis.
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Administration
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Claudia was born and grew up in Zurich. She lived for several years abroad working at the Swiss Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria and later at the Swiss Consulate in Chicago, USA. After her return to Switzerland, she worked for different companies in Zurich before she started a job at the UZH in 1997. In May 2019, she joined the DQBM as an administrative assistant. In her free time, she loves to play Tennis and to spend time with her family and friends.
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