Laura E. Clarke

TL;DR: It is shown that activated microglia induce A1 astrocytes by secreting Il-1α, TNF and C1q, and that these cytokines together are necessary and sufficient to induce A2 astroCytes, which are abundant in various human neurodegenerative diseases.

TL;DR: The development of an immunopanning method to acutely purify astrocytes from fetal, juvenile, and adult human brains and to maintain these cells in serum-free cultures is reported, finding that human astroCytes have abilities similar to those of murine astroicytes in promoting neuronal survival, inducing functional synapse formation, and engulfing synaptosomes.

TL;DR: A simple and reproducible 3D culture approach for generating a laminated cerebral cortex–like structure, named human cortical spheroids (hCSs), from pluripotent stem cells, which demonstrate that cortical neurons participate in network activity and produce complex synaptic events.

TL;DR: A novel role for astrocytes in mediating synapse elimination in the developing and adult brain is revealed, MEGF10 and MERTK are identified as critical proteins in the synapse remodelling underlying neural circuit refinement, and have important implications for understanding learning and memory as well as neurological disease processes.

TL;DR: A better understanding of how astrocytes regulate neural circuit development and function in the healthy and diseased brain might lead to the development of therapeutic agents to treat these diseases.