The Harrison lab kicked off 2022 with lots of lab work and many celebrations!
Work we have done:
Ian and Doug obtain and analyse tau ICH and behavioural data.
Doug optimised alpha-synuclein antibody for immunohistochemistry staining.
Ian started to cut the TexasRed infused tau brains to look at glymphatic function - data he's very excited about!
Sophie optimises 3 Western blots (alpha-synuclein, aquaporin-4, tau) and got some n=1 data for the tau mice - these are from Lauren's protein extractions and this data has been eagerly awaited by Ian and Doug who have been collecting the samples for years!
Sheila finished all protein extractions and PCRs for her project - now moving onto Western blots for the PD model mice.
Highlights:
Ian give UCL Neuroscience Early Career Prize Talk
In February Ian gave his prize winning talk at UCL for his outstanding work as an early career neuroscientist. Doug, Sophie and Sheila attended the talk as well as a range of other UCL neuroscientists.
Sophie got a PhD position
Sophie was accepted onto the UCL-Birkbeck MRC DTP in March, she is incredibly excited to start her year of rotation projects in September and then final project the year after.
Graduations
On March 11th Sophie and Lauren both celebrated their (slightly delayed) graduations at the ExCel in London. Sophie graduated with a distinction in MRes Translational Neuroscience and Lauren graduated with First Class Honours in BSc Biochemistry. Ian also decided to get dressed up and attend the ceremony as a member of the platform party.
Review Paper Published
In late March the Lopes, Llewellyn & Harrison review paper came out, titled "Propagation of tau and α-synuclein in the brain: therapeutic potential of the glymphatic system". This paper had been worked on for a while and all authors were very happy to have it published.
Conferences
The Harrison group attended two conferences in March:
Ian and Doug attended ARUK 2022 where Ian gave an oral presentation and Doug presented a poster.
Ian, Doug and Sophie attended AD/PD 2022 where Ian also gave a talk.