Recently started projects (2022-)

Druggability of mechanisms in rare diseases associated with Ras signalling pathways

• EURAS – European Network for Developmental Rasopathies (consortium website)
• Identifying targetable defects of SynGAP1 missense variants (Courtney MJ & Li L-L)

Signalling dynamics and encoding

• Temporally-encoded intracellular signalling and its impact on single cell integration into synaptically active neuronal circuits

Synapse biology

• The synaptic life cycle regulated by disease mechanisms (Li L-L)

Earlier projects

Organisation of Signalling Pathways and Roles in Disorders of the Nervous System

• NOS1AP/CAPON: mechanisms of action on NMDA receptor signalling through nNOS (review)
• NOS1AP/CAPON : contribution to diseases and disorders (hypoxia-ischaemia, neuropathic pain, schizophrenia, neurodegenerative disorders)

Optogenetic and Optopharmacological tools and techniques for precise control of cell signalling pathways

• OptoJNKi and Optop38i, new tools for precise spatiotemporal control of JNK and p38 pathways (see www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15017, press release, plasmids)
• LOV2FRET – a single solution to monitor optogenetic actuation in situ and increase light-sensitivity to limit long-term phototoxicity (see www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18816, blogpost, data, protocol, plasmids)
• Higher throughput in microscopy-based assays and in situ quantification of cell signalling kinetics with a slow-relaxing form of OptoJNKi (OptoJNKi-sr; see www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18816)
• Design strategies for rapid generation of optically regulated inhibitors – extending the toolbox

Development and Application of High-Content Analysis and High-Throughput Microscopy tools and methods

• An automated single-cell biology pipeline for analysis of signalling circuit dynamics in interconnected cell networks
• RNAi-based identification of RasGEFs counteracting neuronal SynGAP1 function
• Workshops: check back later for the next workshop (last workshop was 19-20 June 2017)
• Provision of high-throughput microscopy and liquid handling infrastructure and services for biological research, chemical biology and early-stage drug discovery (Screening unit)