The Fusion Frontier A Grey Matter podcast

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The fusion frontier

2d ago 30:06

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Professor Massimo Hilliard and Dr Ramon Martinez-Marmol grew up far from Queensland – Massimo in Naples, Italy, and Ramon in Catalonia, Spain. Their passion for biology led them both overseas as postdoctoral researchers: Massimo to the United States, and then Ramon to Australia. In 2015, they met at UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute, where Ramon joined the Meunier lab before moving to the Hilliard lab in 2020 as a Research Fellow. Together, they have been extending the limits of what is known or expected about neuronal fusion.

In this fascinating conversation, Massimo and Ramon explore:

What happens when neurons fuse
How viral infections, like Covid-19, can induce fusion, disrupting neural circuits
The surprising role of a tiny, transparent roundworm, C.elegans, in advancing their research
How the lab’s discoveries of critical molecular players, like fusogens, may one day revolutionise nerve injury repair
Advice for early-career researchers pursuing discovery science

Chapters

1. The fusion frontier (00:00:00)

2. What is neuronal fusion? (00:01:57)

3. How does neuronal fusion differ from other types of cell fusion? (00:05:42)

4. The exciting discoveries of neuronal fusion and its potential (00:09:30)

5. The impact on the development of new treatment strategies for nerve repair (00:21:50)

6. Advice for early-career researchers (00:26:50)

93 episodes

#Science #Queensland Brain Institutes #Brain Research #Neuroscience #Brain Health #Mental Health #Brain Development #Brain Injury #Cognitive