Barcelona
Aula Magna Enric Cassasas, Facultat de Física
18/06/2019
UBICS (Universitat de Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems) celebrates its annual meeting.
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Complexitat.cat
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22/05/2019
Premi Wagensberg Ricard Alert Tesis doctoral
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Universitat de Barcelona
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06/05/2019
Pietro Tierno ICREA premio
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Universitat de Barcelona
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06/05/2019
Beques UBICS Programa Master+UB Ampliació Sol·licituds
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Patient-Specific iPSC-Derived Astrocytes Contribute to Non-Cell-Autonomous Neurodegeneration in Parkinson's Disease
di Domenico, A ; Carola, G ; Calatayud, C ; Pons-Espinal, M ; Munoz, JP ; Richaud-Patin, Y; Fernandez-Carasa, I ; Gut, M ; Faella, A ; Parameswaran, J ; Soriano, J ; Ferrer, I ; Tolosa, E ; Zorzano, A; Cuervo, AM ; Raya, A; Consiglio, A
STEM CELL REPORTS
12
2
(2019)
Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with the degeneration of ventral midbrain dopaminergic neurons (vmDAns) and the accumulation of toxic alpha-synuclein. A non-cell-autonomous contribution, in particular of astrocytes, during PD pathogenesis has been suggested by observational studies, but remains to be experimentally tested. Here, we generated induced pluripotent stem cell-derived astrocytes and neurons from familial mutant LRRK2 G2019S PD patients and healthy individuals. Upon co-culture on top of PD astrocytes, control vmDAns displayed morphological signs of neurodegeneration and abnormal, astrocyte-derived alpha-synuclein accumulation. Conversely, control astrocytes partially prevented the appearance of disease-related phenotypes in PD vmDAns. We additionally identified dysfunctional chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), impaired macroautophagy, and progressive alpha-synuclein accumulation in PD astrocytes. Finally, chemical enhancement of CMA protected PD astrocytes and vmDAns via the clearance of alpha-synuclein accumulation. Our findings unveil a crucial non-cell-autonomous contribution of astrocytes during PD pathogenesis, and open the path to exploring novel therapeutic strategies aimed at blocking the pathogenic cross talk between neurons and glial cells.
Telegraphic processes with stochastic resetting
Masoliver, J
PHYSICAL REVIEW E
99
012121
(2019)
We investigate the effects of resetting mechanisms on random processes that follow the telegrapher's equation instead of the usual diffusion equation. We thus study the consequences of a finite speed of signal propagation, the landmark of telegraphic processes. Likewise diffusion processes where signal propagation is instantaneous, we show that in telegraphic processes, where signal propagation is not instantaneous, random resettings also stabilize the random walk around the resetting position and optimize the mean first-arrival time. We also obtain the exact evolution equations for the probability density of the combined process and study the limiting cases.
Enhancing Nanoparticle Diffusion on a Unidirectional Domain Wall Magnetic Ratchet
Stoop, RL; Straube, AV ; Tierno, P
NANO LETTERS
19
1
(2019)
The performance of nanoscale magnetic devices is often limited by the presence of thermal fluctuations, whereas in micro- and nanofluidic applications the same fluctuations may be used to spread reactants or drugs. Here, we demonstrate the controlled motion and the enhancement of diffusion of magnetic nanoparticles that are manipulated and driven across a series of Bloch walls within an epitaxially grown ferrite garnet film. We use a rotating magnetic field to generate a traveling wave potential that unidirectionally transports the nanoparticles at a frequency tunable speed. Strikingly, we find an enhancement of diffusion along the propulsion direction and a frequency-dependent diffusion coefficient that can be precisely controlled by varying the system parameters. To explain the reported phenomena, we develop a theoretical approach that shows a fair agreement with the experimental data enabling an exact analytical expression for the enhanced diffusivity above the magnetically modulated periodic landscape. Our technique to control thermal fluctuations of driven magnetic nanoparticles represents a versatile and powerful way to programmably transport magnetic colloidal matter in a fluid, opening the doors to different fluidic applications based on exploiting magnetic domain wall ratchets.
