Detail

Keywords

Nerve Regeneration; Schwann Cells; Silk

Research group(s)

• ARGE Radtke
  Research Area: cell based therapies and spider silk conduits for peripheral nerve regeneration
  Members:
  Paul Supper
  Tamara Weiss

Research interests

Schwann cells possess a remarkable plasticity and are able to conduct a plethora of functions with emerging importance in tissue regeneration and tumor development. My overall research goal is to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying the functional spectrum of human Schwann cells to exploit this knowledge in novel therapeutic approaches for patients suffering from nerve injuries. I explore how human Schwann cells interact with the environment during nerve regeneration but also during benign and malign tumor development to eventually design therapies for targeted Schwann cell modulation in pathologies of the peripheral nervous system.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

• culture of primary cells of neuronal and glial origin, particularly human Schwann cells
• multicolor immunofluorescence stainings
• confocal imaging
• proteome & transcriptome expression analyses
• quantitative antibody-based read-out techniques
• co-culture experimental set-ups

Selected publications

1. Weiss, T., Taschner-Mandl, S. et al., 2021. Schwann cell plasticity regulates neuroblastic tumor cell differentiation via epidermal growth factor-like protein 8. Nature Communications, 12(1). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21859-0.
2. Millesi, F., Weiss, T. et al., 2020. Defining the regenerative effects of native spider silk fibers on primary Schwann cells, sensory neurons, and nerve‐associated fibroblasts. The FASEB Journal, 35(2). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1096/fj.202001447r.
3. Weiss, T., Semmler, L. et al., 2020. Automated image analysis of stained cytospins to quantify Schwann cell purity and proliferation R. Linden, ed. PLOS ONE, 15(5), p.e0233647. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233647.
4. Haertinger, M., Weiss, T. et al., 2020. Adipose Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Induce Proliferation of Schwann Cells via Internalization. Cells, 9(1), p.163. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells9010163.
5. Weiss, T., Taschner-Mandl, S. et al., 2016. Proteomics and transcriptomics of peripheral nerve tissue and cells unravel new aspects of the human Schwann cell repair phenotype. Glia, 64(12), pp.2133–2153. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/glia.23045.