University of Glasgow - Colleges - College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences - MVLS Graduate School - PhD Research Opportunities - College Futures Themes PhD Programme - Projects - Fundamentals of Life Projects Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.

PhD project alert: if interested in learning more about stroke, vascular dementia and mitochondria (yes there is some matrix there as well!) Come and join us!
collaboration with Kostas Tokatlidis
Email me if interested.
Application deadline: 12 January 2026

www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl...

Thanks Shireen!

Dual AAV gene therapy using laminin-linking proteins ameliorates muscle and nerve defects in LAMA2-related muscular dystrophy Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene replacement holds promise for treating genetic diseases but faces challenges due to AAV's limited packaging capacity and potential immune responses to transg...

New paper out from Markus Ruegg lab on gene therapy for muscular dystrophy due to laminin mutations:
Dual AAV gene therapy using laminin-linking proteins ameliorates muscle and nerve defects in LAMA2-related muscular dystrophy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This has been a great collaboration @fuller-lab.bsky.social @manuelsalmeron.bsky.social @marcocantini.bsky.social Joe Swift @uofglasgow.bsky.social @fabqu.bsky.social @uofgscmh.bsky.social @uofgmvls.bsky.social

We explore shared molecular signatures between Col4a1 mutant hearts and common cardiac disease proteomics datasets, highlighting key overlapping mechanistic pathways enforcing the critical function of cardiac basement membranes.

She describes a novel cardiac phenotype attributed to Col4a1 mutations underlined by the development of cardiac fibrosis, reduced contractile capacity and biomechanical alterations.
Proteomic analysis revealed several altered cardiac metabolism and sarcomere formation pathways 📉📈

Biomechanical and compositional basement membrane defects due to a Col4a1 mutation affect cardiac morphology and function Collagen IV is a major constituent of basement membranes and mutations in the genes COL4A1 and COL4A2 present clinically as a variable, multi-system d…

Really excited to tell you about our paper just out in the journal Matrix Biology.
@erinboland.bsky.social set out to investigate what the impact of basement membrane defects are on adult heart function/biology.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Collagen Biosynthesis and Its Molecular Ensemble: What Remains Unexplored Collagen embodies an intriguing paradox in protein biology. Despite being one of the most abundant protein superfamilies in vertebrates and having a seemingly simple structural organization, its biosy...

"My" latest review is online now. We need your creativity! 😎
👇👇👇
Collagen Biosynthesis and Its Molecular Ensemble: What Remains Unexplored | Biochemistry pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Congrats Yoshi! Was good to see you last week at the collagen Gordon conference...

Here's what it gets you

Am I back from the best conference ever? Yes! But do I also see a crucial tool for the analysis of the #ECMatrix in scRNAseq? Also yes!! Another fantastic tool in collaboration with @nabalabuic.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥

Congrats Alex and @valerioizzi.bsky.social! Was great to see you both at the Collagen Gordon meeting and thank you for participating in the power hour

MatriCom, a single-cell RNA-sequencing data mining tool to infer cell–extracellular matrix interactions Highlighted Article: MatriCom is a web application devised to mine single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets to infer extracellular matrix (ECM)–ECM and cell–ECM communication systems across cell population...

Perfect timing on the last day of the 2025 #Collagen Gordon Research Conference! Our paper, in collaboration with @valerioizzi.bsky.social describing #MatriCom, a tool to infer ECM communication systems from scRNA-Seq datasets, is now published in @jcellsci.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1242/jcs....

Chemical chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate treatment alleviates the kidney phenotype in a mouse model of Alport syndrome with a pathogenic variant in Col4a3 Alport Syndrome is a severe inherited glomerulopathy caused by pathogenic variants in genes encoding collagen-IV, the most abundant component of the g…

New data from the Deltas lab on targeting ER stress in Alport Syndrome.
Chemical chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate treatment alleviates the kidney phenotype in a mouse model of Alport syndrome with a pathogenic variant in Col4a3
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dynamic regulation of integrin β1 phosphorylation supports invasion of breast cancer cells Nature Cell Biology - Conway et al. show that integrin β1 phosphorylation is regulated through balanced activities of tyrosine kinases, such as Src and Arg, and phosphatases, such as PTP-PEST...

New paper in Nature Cell Biol from @johannaivaska.bsky.social and @ivaskalab.bsky.social

Dynamic regulation of integrin β1 phosphorylation supports invasion of breast cancer cells
rdcu.be/eoAUD

Really excited to work with the Ruggiero lab over the summer as visiting professor at the Institute Genomics Functional De Lyon, ENS de Lyon. #Collagen. #Matrix and #disease treatments. @uofgmvls.bsky.social @uofgscmh.bsky.social

And how are you meant to drive away from here? Parking in Barcelona

And we recreated it 150 years later. www.gla.ac.uk/news/archive...

20 degrees in Edinburgh. those of you who know Scottish tenement flats built in early 1900s (in which I live) know this means opening the windows to warm the house 😂

Another collagen IV paper on the "to read" list...
new review just out in the journal #matrix_biology
"The life cycle of type IV collagen" by David Sherwood
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

So excited to share our first neuro focused paper from the lab, we show that CXCL4 (PF4) is transported into the brain by proteoglycans within the endothelial glycocalyx and that GAG binding also mediates the pro neurogenesis effects of CXCL4. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Curious about collagen??
There is an amazing program for the Collagen Gordon in New Hampshire this year.
We have ample speaker slots reserved for abstract submissions.

Come and join us!

www.grc.org/collagen-con...
July 6 - 11, 2025

www.grc.org/collagen-grs...
July 5 - 6, 2025

Doug,Rachel,Alex

To all our undergraduate student's at @uofglasgow.bsky.social ..good luck with your exams!

Heard from a former (undergrad) student who just defended her PhD. Students: tell your old profs about your successes and achievements. It's not bragging, and we love to hear about it. It's one of the best parts of being an educator.
#academicsky

Collagen IV deficiency causes hypertrophic remodeling and endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization in small vessel disease with intracerebral hemorrhage COL4A1/COL4A2 variants act in genetic and sporadic CSVD with ICH via dysregulated EDH, and altered vascular wall thickness and biomechanics due to lower collagen IV levels and/or mutant collagen IV se...

Congratulations Yoshi! Nice to see this out. For mice at least, milder phenotype due to knockout is also what we saw for the Col4a2 gene.
www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...

Collagen IV of basement membranes: I. Origin and diversification of COL4 genes enabling metazoan multicellularity, evolution and adaptation Collagen IV is a major component of basement membranes, a specialized form of extracellular matrix that enabled the assembly of multicellular epitheli…

Collagen IV of basement membranes: I. Origin and diversification of COL4 genes enabling metazoan multicellularity, evolution and adaptation
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Protocol for extraction and characterization of mouse brain-derived extracellular matrix for neuronal cell culture Neuronal cell cultures are highly sensitive to their microenvironment, particularly the choice of coating substrate. Here, we present a protocol to is…

Protocol for extraction and characterization of mouse brain-derived extracellular matrix for neuronal cell culture
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thanks Alex!

was a real pleasure to work with the late Neil Bulleid on this. Passed away much too soon. Such a loss as a friend, colleague and scientist. Thanks Neil for everything.