Thrilled to announce that our latest work is now on @biorxivpreprint! @alinabatzi and I explored the pathogenic mechanisms of Plasmodium falciparum egress from infected red blood cells using a novel 3D blood-brain barrier model. Check it out!

RT @EMBLBarcelona: 🚨 We're Hiring! 🚨. At EMBL Barcelona we build tissues to understand them, and we are looking for a Group Leader in Tissu….

9/ Many thanks to all co-authors from the Bernabeu (@marietabernabeu), Sharpe (@_JamesSharpe) and Steinmetz (@LarsMSteinmetz) groups, as well as the EMCF (@SchwabYannick).

8/ Our results confirm that P. falciparum egress from infected red blood cells is the most pathogenic step of the blood stage cycle. We found many dysregulated pathways across all BBB cell types. You can see the final summary here:

7/ To test this localized effect, we checked for transcriptional changes in endothelial cells with high P. falciparum-RNA content (likely through uptake of egress products). Surprisingly, we found they presented an expression profile similar to those exposed to egress products.

6/ We then looked at vessel morphology and found that microvessels exposed to schizonts presented small inter-endothelial gaps near newly egressed parasites (merozoites). Despite the localized effect, these vessels become leakier.

5/ We then tested the effects of the real parasite. To our surprise, we didn’t observe many transcriptional changes, but we were excited to see that short term exposure to both trophozoites and schizonts downregulated one of the main tight junction markers, CLDN5.

4/ The decreased expression of tight junction markers was associated with the formation of large inter-endothelial gaps and an impairment of endothelial barrier integrity.

3/ We first tested our model upon exposure to P. falciparum egress products, which induced the activation of inflammatory and antigen presentation pathways, while downregulating junctional and vascular development markers.

2/ As an alternative, we generated a bioengineered 3D-BBB model, in which primary endothelial cells, pericytes and astrocytes form perfusable microvessels with enhanced barrier properties.

1/ Cerebral malaria mainly affects children in malaria-endemic areas. 1 in 5 won’t survive, and 1/3 of survivors will face long-term effects, even with optimal treatment. A key challenge is that we can’t directly study patients' brains to fully understand disease progression.

RT @marietabernabeu: A week of celebrations in the lab. printing of the first PhD thesis in the lab from @Livia_Piatti! Very much lookin….

RT @marietabernabeu: Bernabeu lab retreat in the middle of nowhere in "el Bergadà". I feel super super fortunate of having started the la….

It was great to share part of my PhD work with the vascular biology community at #EMBOBuildNetworks among so many inspiring talks. Thanks to the organisers for an amazing second edition of the workshop👏🏼.

RT @RoryKMLong: The first preprint of the my PhD is out! In this project, we studied whether interplay between brain pericytes and Plasmodi….

RT @TinaHaase3: Our @CarmenMoccia0 from @LabHaase has just put her excellent in vitro vascular research on bioRxiv - please check it out 👉….

RT @marietabernabeu: Bernabeu lab retreat in la Costa Brava! Science, beach and sun! @EMBLBarcelona

RT @EMBLBarcelona: Gràcies a tots i a totes per venir a veure'ns a la #FestadelaCiència i jugar als memory games!. Va ser un matí fantàstic….

Tomorrow from 11 am in Rambla del Raval 🔬🖼.

Final day of #EMBOBuildNetworks at @the_prbb. It was great seeing @marietabernabeu showing the research we do in her group and discussing it during the poster session 🧠🦟