Date/Time
Date(s) - 25/09/2025
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Location
BT2 Detente / Kitchenette 1st Floor Room 101
Categories
Do you like scientific discussion? And how about Pizza?
If we gained your attention with ‘scientific’, or at least with ‘Pizza’, then you are already looking forward to the right event!
Pizza Club is a regularly held Journal Club event co-organized by The Representatives of the Doctoral Programme in Systems and Molecular Biomedicine, part of the Doctoral School in Science and Engineering (DSSE); and the Uni.lu student association ISCB RSG Luxembourg.
In short, Students (PhD candidates) present a scientific paper (+- 20 mins) they find interesting or that inspired the development of their individual PhD project (doesn’t need to be authored by the speaker).
There will be a open discussion round after each scientific presentation (2-3 students per event), followed by informal and fun chatting with some pizzas around!
Moreover, each presentation of peer-reviewed papers will be rewarded by 0.5 ECTS!
If we attracted your interest by now, feel free to join the monthly Pizza Club, either as part of Audience or as a registered Speaker. For the latter, please kindly use this form to sign up as an upcoming Speaker, by choosing your category of paper and desired month to present. Looking forward to seeing you at the next Pizza Club!
Information about this month’s speakers:
- Sophie Schreiner:
Introduction: Sophie is a fourth-year PhD student at the LNS, working in the National Center of Pathology research unit. Her research focuses on characterizing tau pathology in patient tissue from neurodegenerative diseases to identify shared mechanisms of neuronal vulnerability.
Link and Title: Microglial-derived C1q integrates into neuronal ribonucleoprotein complexes and impacts protein homeostasis in the aging brain (https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00639-1)
Short abstract: This study shows that microglia-derived C1q is taken up by neurons in an age-dependent manner and incorporated into ribonucleoprotein complexes. C1q undergoes RNA-dependent phase separation and associates with neuronal RNP assemblies through RNA and endocytosis. Loss of C1q alters neuronal protein synthesis in an age-specific way and impairs fear memory extinction. These findings reveal an unexpected intracellular role for C1q in regulating neuronal protein homeostasis during aging.
- Sundas Arshad:
Introduction: Sundas is a third-year PhD student at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of Luxembourg. She is part of the Integrative Cell Signaling group (ICS), where her research focuses on the crosstalk between calcium signaling and mitochondrial dynamics in dopaminergic neurons.
Link and Title: Formononetin Exerts Neuroprotection in Parkinson’s Disease via the Activation of the Nrf2 Signaling Pathway (https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/29/22/5364)
Short abstract: In this study, Caenorhabditis elegans PD models (NL5901 and MPP(+)-induced BZ555) and an MPP(+)-induced SH-SY5Y cell model are used to evaluate FMN’s neuroprotective effects. FMN reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS), preserved dopaminergic neurons, improved mitochondrial function, and alleviated dyskinesia. Transcriptomic analysis revealed Nrf2 activation as a key mechanism, further confirmed by inhibition with ML385. FMN’s protective effects were comparable to sulforaphane which is a known Nrf2 agonist. These findings suggest FMN exerts anti-PD effects mainly via Nrf2 signaling, providing a promising as a potential therapeutic candidate for PD.
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