Alejandro De Los Angeles, DPhil MPH

Huntington’s disease treated for first time using gene therapy Nature - Preliminary results from a small trial offer the clearest evidence yet that the brain disease’s progression can be slowed.

A one-time gene therapy can markedly slow the progression of Huntington’s disease, potentially paving the way for the first ever treatment to alter the course of this rare, inherited brain disorder.

go.nature.com/4gLO6Wz

New paper out from @zernickagoetz.bsky.social lab led by Dong-Yuan Chen.

We show how the extracellular matrix guides body axis formation in mouse—and possibly human—embryos. Dong did some very challenging experiments - glad to have played a part in seeing it complete.

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Neuron programming! Pro-neural TFs + 480 morphogen conditions + scRNA-seq --> Diverse iN subtypes of forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain, spinal cord, and PNS. @hsiuchuanlin.bsky.social‬ @jasperjanssens.bsky.social‬ and Treutlein Lab! @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #NGN2 #ASCL1

My postdoc work at Treutlein lab and @graycamplab.bsky.social with @jasperjanssens.bsky.social is out in @science.org ! We screen for neuron subtypes using pro-neural TFs + morphogen combinations + scRNA-seq and profiled over 700,000 cells in 480 conditions. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Translating lifestyle interventions for optimal brain health in Africa Nature Reviews Neurology, Published online: 11 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41582-025-01104-8This Perspective article explores the efficacy of multimodal lifestyle interventions to tackle the rising incidence of dementia in low- and middle-income countries. The authors discuss a contextual adaptation of the Finnish FINGER trial, Africa-FINGERS, which is pioneering a culturally relevant, multidomain approach to dementia risk reduction for African settings.

ICYMI: New online! Translating lifestyle interventions for optimal brain health in Africa

ICYMI: New online! Challenges of combining multimodal data in assessment of people with traumatic brain injury

Temporal control of progenitor competence shapes maturation in GABAergic neuron development in mice - Nature Neuroscience Unlike cortical progenitors, ventral telencephalic progenitors retain the ability to generate diverse neuron types during neurogenesis. Here, the authors show that ventral telencephalic progenitor mat...

Ventral telencephalic progenitor maturation is gated by developmental timing, revealing a distinct regulatory logic underlying the development of inhibitory neurons

@annrosebright.bsky.social @flo-neuhaus.bsky.social aus.bsky.social, @chr-mayer.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Human thalamocortical structural connectivity develops in line with a hierarchical axis of cortical plasticity - Nature Neuroscience Sydnor et al. developed a new tractography atlas of thalamocortical structural connections and applied it to three youth samples. They uncovered coordinated development between thalamic connectivity a...

Human thalamocortical connectivity matures along the cortex’s sensorimotor–association axis

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nature Neuroscience July cover. The cover shows fourth ventricle choroid plexus from a mouse at embryonic day 16.5, stained for the water channel AQP1

Our July issue is now live!

www.nature.com/neuro/volume...

Large-scale research resource models #Alzheimers disease with high and low polygenic risk in human iPSCs. 100+ lines from patients & controls, a powerful tool to study complex AD biology. ow.ly/TeMO50WlGMv

@ukdri.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk @isscr.org @gairdnerawards.bsky.social @sickkidsvs.bsky.social

Inspiring

Molecular and functional diversity of the autonomic nervous system - Nature Reviews Neuroscience The autonomic nervous system has long been viewed as a simple motor system in brain-to-body signalling. In this review, Wang and colleagues highlight diversity within autonomic neurons and their dynam...

Molecular and functional diversity of the autonomic nervous system — a Review by Tongtong Wang, Avedis Tufenkjian, Olujimi A. Ajijola & Yuki Oka

#neuroscience #neuroskyence

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Turbocharged ‘killer’ cells show promise for autoimmune disease Experimental treatment could offer a safer, cheaper alternative to CAR T cell therapies for disorders such as lupus.

We keep learning new ways to block autoimmunity and potentially cure autoimmune diseases. Beyond engineered T cells, now natural killer (NK) cells
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Excited to share our new paper in @Nature! 🎉 As leader of an international consortium, we're proposing a #roadmap to extend human embryo research beyond the 14-day limit to 28 days. Unlocking immense promise for science & medicine! 🔬💡

Read more: rdcu.be/eufLy

Amyloid-beta(Aβ) accumulation is not common in centenarians, but, when present, is linked to reduced cognitive performance jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Parkinson’s drug effective in treating persistent depression | A drug used for Parkinson’s disease has been shown to be effective in reducing the symptoms of difficult to treat depression, in a study led by the University of Oxford.

NEW: A Parkinson’s drug has been found to reduce symptoms of treatment-resistant depression.

In the largest trial to date, pramipexole significantly outperformed placebo over nearly a year when added to antidepressants.

Read more ⬇️

Oxford to lead new £50m MRC Centre to develop brain stimulation A new Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE) aims to develop brain stimulation devices to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s, dementia, stroke and childhood epilepsy.

A new Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE) aims to develop brain stimulation devices to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s, dementia, stroke and childhood epilepsy.

More info ⬇️

What do dolphins talk about? One biologist is trying to listen in A marine ecologist’s 40-year struggle to understand how animals signal to one another.

Book review 📚 What do dolphins talk about? One biologist is trying to listen in

https://go.nature.com/44pnG71

Beautiful!

Reviewing the 14-day rule for human embryo research - Nuffield Council on Bioethics Exploring arguments for and against extending the 14-day time limit for human embryo research.

This is why I am very excited to be part of a group that will oversee a public dialogue about rewriting the day 14 rule, organised by the ‪@nuffieldbioethics.bsky.social‬. You can read more about it here: www.nuffieldbioethics.org/project/revi...

Cancer cells get power boost by stealing mitochondria from nerves Nature - The theft probably helps the cells to spread around the body, and preventing it could provide a path to treatment, researchers say.

Cancer cells turbocharge themselves by stealing the energy-producing units from neurons in tumours

https://go.nature.com/4nnVyda

Scientists have created healthy, fertile mice with two fathers Bipaternal human children, though, are still far away

Scientists in China have presented the most complete attempt yet at making healthy, fertile mice from two sperm cells. Bipaternal human children, though, are still far away

Harvard vs Trump: what this epic battle means for science Nature - Research across science and medicine will probably shrink at one of the world’s most elite universities amid a new political reality.

Legal experts argue that Harvard is ultimately likely to prevail in its challenges to the Trump administration’s latest attacks, but how and when remains unclear

https://go.nature.com/3I2R4bR

Excited to share I’m starting my group in Dublin this September, supported by a Research Ireland Pathway award. We will work on neurulation mechanics using chicken embryos and human iPSCs. Looking forward to this new adventure! #newPI #womeninSTEM

RNA codon expansion via programmable pseudouridine editing and decoding - Nature An RNA codon-expansion strategy enables incorporation of non-canonical amino acids into proteins of interest orthogonally to existing methods by inserting pseudouridine codons into specific mRNA transcripts and using an engineered decoder tRNA.

Nature research paper: RNA codon expansion via programmable pseudouridine editing and decoding

https://go.nature.com/3G8f3G4