Talented UCI MIND Trainee awarded Research Fellowship

Ghazaleh Eskandar-Sedighi, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow, supervised by Mathew Blurton-Jones, PhD, professor of Neurobiology and Behavior in the Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences. Dr. Eskander-Sedighi was recently awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship in Alzheimer’s disease research from the BrightFocus Foundation. Ghazeleh’s research focuses on leveraging human stem cell-derived microglia and chimeric animal models to investigate protective microglial responses in the context of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Her BrightFocus Foundation project specifically aims to take advantage of novel, multi-faceted stem cell and chimeric mouse models to study the impact of the protective microglial ApoE3 Christchurch mutation on disease pathogenesis in a novel mouse model of AD with combined amyloid and tau pathologies. Considering the significant advancements in the field of microglia-based therapeutics, the results from this 2-year, $200,000 fellowship could help the field clarify the potential therapeutic role of protective variants like APOE Christchurch against AD. Congratulations Ghazeleh!

Postdoctoral fellows Ghazaleh Eskandari-Sedighi and Jean Paul Chadarevian join Graduate Student Zahara Keulen at the 2025 Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Centers Research Symposium hosted at the Arnold & Mabel Beckman Center.

Undergraduates Joia Capocchi and Alan Mai present “Human microglia transplantation to prevent frontotemporal dementia” at the 2025 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Symposium hosted by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Congratulations on your poster and outstanding contributions!

Dr. Jean Paul Chadarevian was awarded the 2025 Tom Angell Fellowship Award by the Office of Inclusive Excellence’s Mentoring for Achievement and Excellence. This fellowship is intended to honor Tom Angell’s contributions as the UCI Graduate Counselor to graduate student wellness and retention and signifies outstanding mentorship by going above and beyond their normal duties to create new opportunities. Congratulations, Jean Paul!

Delivery Courier? Microglia Drop Neprilysin Off Near Plaques in Brain

The blood-brain barrier border protects the brain by regulating the flow of molecules, peptides, and cells, but it also keeps out many therapeutics. Now, researchers have harnessed the power of a resident drug courier, i.e., microglia.

Mathew Blurton-Jones and his team at the University of California, Irvine, have engineered human iPSC-derived microglia (iMG) to ferry protein therapeutics into the brain. They CRISPR-engineered the immune cells to express the Aβ-degrading enzyme neprilysin, but only in areas where the cells encounter amyloid plaques. When the researchers injected the couriers into mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, the cells not only reduced the amount of amyloid, but also improved downstream aspects of Alzheimer’s pathogenesis. “While there are, of course, other approaches to reduce [Aβ] levels, this study demonstrated the powerful potential of iPSC-microglia to provide a novel immune cell therapy for a broad array of neurological diseases,” senior author Blurton-Jones wrote to Alzforum.

Read the full article here.

Engineered microglia show promise for treating Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases UC Irvine team develops cell-based platform for brain-wide delivery of therapeutic proteins

University of California, Irvine scientists have unveiled a groundbreaking new way to deliver disease-fighting proteins throughout the brain, potentially revolutionizing the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders. By engineering human immune cells called microglia the researchers have created living cellular “couriers” capable of responding to brain pathology and releasing therapeutic agents exactly where needed.

The National Institutes of Health-supported study, published recently in Cell Stem Cell, demonstrates for the first time that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) – derived microglia can be genetically programmed to detect disease-specific brain changes – like amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease – and to then specifically respond to pathology by releasing enzymes that help break down those toxic proteins. As a result, the cells were able to reduce inflammation, preserve neurons and synaptic connections and reverse multiple other hallmarks of neurodegeneration in mice.

To read the full article, click here.

Dr. Mathew Blurton-Jones and Jean Paul Chadarevian were invited to share their research at this year’s ADPD 2025 (April 1-5) International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases.

Dr. Mathew Blurton-Jones was invited to moderate the session on cell replacement therapy & diagnostics, where he presented key findings highlighting the differences between CNS-wide engrafted human monocytes and iPSC-microglia.  Dr. Jean Paul Chadarevian was also selected to present his research harnessing human iPSC-microglia for CNS-wide delivery of therapeutic peptides.

Congratulations to all the attendees and participants of ADPD 2025!