Gonçalo Castelo-Branco Group
Our research group is interested in the molecular mechanisms defining the epigenetic state of cells of the oligodendrocyte lineage.
We are focused on how interplay between transcription factors, non-coding RNAs and chromatin modifying enzymes contribute to the transition between epigenetic states within the oligodendrocyte lineage, with the aim to design epigenetic based-therapies to induce regeneration (remyelination) in demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.
Hello Gonçalo Castelo-Branco, new Professor of Glial Cell Biology
Hello Gonçalo Castelo-Branco, new Professor of Glial Cell Biology
Gonçalo Castelo Branco is newly appointed Professor of Glial Cell Biology. We talked to him about the next steps in his research and the job he was dreaming of as a kid.
Gonçalo Castelo-Branco is awarded the Eric K. Fernström prize 2021
Gonçalo Castelo-Branco is awarded the Eric K. Fernström prize 2021
Gonçalo Castelo-Branco at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics (MBB) at Karolinska Institutet, receives the 2021 Eric K. Fernström prize for young, especially promising and successful researchers, for his significant research in the oligodendrocyte/myelin field and multiple sclerosis. Note that the prize 2020 was advanced to 2021.
Technique allows mapping of epigenetic information in single cells at scale
Technique allows mapping of epigenetic information in single cells at scale
Histones are tiny proteins that bind to DNA and hold information that can help turn on or off individual genes. We have developed a technique that makes it possible to examine how different versions of histones bind to the genome in tens of thousands of individual cells simultaneously. The technique was applied to the mouse brain and can be used to study epigenetics at a single-cell level in other complex tissues. The study is published in Nature Biotechnology.
Gonçalo Castelo-Branco awarded the Göran Gustafsson Prize in Medicine and Molecular Biology 2021
Gonçalo Castelo-Branco awarded the Göran Gustafsson Prize in Medicine and Molecular Biology 2021
The prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and consists of a research grant of SEK 5.1 million, spread over three years, with a personal prize of SEK 250,000.
Distinct oligodendrocyte populations have spatial preference and different responses to spinal cord injury
Our latest, from Elisa et al., where we found that specific mature oligodendrocyte populations, MOL2 and MOL5/6, have a different distribution in the mouse brain and spinal cord, and differential susceptibility to spinal cord injury or the MS model EAE.
Crossing boundaries: Interplay between the immune system and oligodendrocyte lineage cells
Crossing boundaries: Interplay between the immune system and oligodendrocyte lineage cells
A new open access review from Leslie and Gonçalo on immune oligodendroglia, part of a special series in Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology on Myelin, dedicated to the Nobel Mini-Symposium 55 The Dark Side of the Brain.
KAW project funding
KAW project funding
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation grant of SEK 34,000,000 for the project "Insights on the role of oligodendroglia in the origin and progression of multiple sclerosis". The GCB lab is also part of the project "Epigenomic states underlying aggressive inflammation and brain tissue loss in Multiple Sclerosis" that has received funding as well.