Neurodegenerative diseases modelling

This project focuses on direct reprogramming of adult human dermal fibroblasts into induced neurons and induced microglia, preserving the aging signature of the original patient cells. A multi-scale computational model is developed for a 3D cell culture system integrating both cell types from the same skin biopsy, enabling the first study of neuron-microglia interactions in an aging human-based system. This model aims to elucidate brain functions and contribute to understanding neurodegenerative disease mechanisms, with training and validation data provided by Janelle Drouin-Ouellet’s lab at the University of Montreal.

Selected publications

Merlevede A., Legault E.M., Drugge V., Barker R.A., Drouin-Ouellet J., Olariu V., A quantitative model of cellular decision making in direct neuronal reprogramming, Scientific Reports volume 11, Article number: 1514 (2021)