iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Alzheimer Forschung Initiative @afi-ev.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Dr. @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social vom @dzne.science untersucht, wie Entzündungen im Gehirn gezielt reduziert werden können, um die Entwicklung von #Demenz zu verlangsamen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen sogenannte Mikrogliazellen, die bei Alzheimer eine wichtige Rolle spielen. ▶️ Infos zum AFI-Projekt im Video

youtu.be

Entzündungen im Gehirn und Alzheimer stoppen

YouTube video by Alzheimer Forschung Initiative

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

📧 Do contact me directly if you have any questions about this role or our work: roisin.mcmanus@dzne.de

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

🥼 We’re looking for a #MSc student to work in our lab as part of their MSc thesis or internship on an interdisciplinary project @dzne.science, in Germany! 🧠 If you’re interested in #neuroinflammation and innate immune signalling in #alzheimersdisease, check out our ad👇 jobs.dzne.de/en/jobs/1014...

jobs.dzne.de

Master student (f/m/x) in the field of Neuroimmunology 1447/2025/6

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

📧 Do contact me directly if you have any questions about this role or our work: roisin.mcmanus@dzne.de

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

📢 We are #hiring a #PhD student to work on an interdisciplinary, collaborative project @dzne.science in Bonn, Germany! 🧠 If you’re interested in western diet-induced #neuroinflammation and innate immune signalling in #alzheimersdisease, check out our ad below 👇 jobs.dzne.de/en/jobs/1014...

jobs.dzne.de

PhD student (f/m/x) in the field of Neuroimmunology 1439/2025/5]

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Had a great time visiting @tcddublin.bsky.social last week where I got to share some of our new work from the lab! 🧠 Really enjoyed the discussions and meeting many amazing researchers, including some old friends 😊 Thanks to @David Loane and the TCD Biochemical society for the lovely invitation

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Thrilled to be at #ADPD2025 in Vienna ☀️ Thanks to everyone who came to our session on innate immunity yesterday! Really enjoyed the discussions after on our findings on #metabolism & #microglia function in #alzheimer’s disease I’ve learned a lot at this meeting - looking forward to Copenhagen 2026 🧠

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

DZNE research center @dzne.science · 28/03/2025

Intermittent Fasting Increases Sex Drive in Male Mice: An Approach for Low Libido in Humans? Current findings could point the way for new therapy option / Serotonin plays key role. Hot off the press from our Bonn based group of Dan Ehninger. 👉 www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

cell.com

Intermittent fasting boosts sexual behavior by limiting the central availability of tryptophan and serotonin

Xie et al. show that intermittent fasting (IF) enhances sexual behavior in male mice by reducing serotonergic inhibition through lower brain tryptophan. While IF does not improve endocrine function or...

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

This month the McManus lab turns 1! 🎉 It’s been an amazing year, from starting out with an empty lab space to having our first co-authorships, grant awards and successful student projects 📄 Delighted to work with such a wonderful team of scientists on #alzheimersdisease and #dementia research 🧠

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation @immunosens.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Visit the #exhibition "What the Health - One World. Your Health!" at the Museum Koenig in #Bonn. Check out the #events surrounding the exhibition and discover how your health and the health of the planet are connected 🌍 Learn more about the program here: bonn.leibniz-lib.de/de/ausstellu...

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation @immunosens.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

🚨 Apply now! We invite you to apply for this year's International School of Advanced Immunology taking place September 14 - 19 at Maria Laach, Germany. Visit our website for more information: www.advanced-immunology.net #international #school #immunology

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Happy St Patrick’s Day! And what a lovely surprise from the lab, who all wore green this morning ☺️☘️

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Check out the latest episode from @immunosens.bsky.social where I chat about our research on #microglia, #NLRP3 and immunometabolism in #Alzheimer’s disease that was published this month in @cp-immunity.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Nature @nature.com · 24/02/2025

Five days of indulging in chocolate bars, crisps and other junk foods can lead to lingering changes in brain activity, a study shows1. The resulting brain patterns are similar to those seen in people who have obesity. go.nature.com/3F61B4o

go.nature.com

How a junk-food splurge can change your brain activity

A short bout of indulgence in fatty, sugary snacks leads to lingering brain-activity changes ― even if it does not cause weight gain.

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

This follows on from our recent finding that #NLRP3 controls how #microglia use glutamine generating specific metabolites that modulate cell activity, therefore we set out to summarise the latest research on microglial immunometabolism from the last 2 years 🧠 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39904338/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

NLRP3-mediated glutaminolysis controls microglial phagocytosis to promote Alzheimer's disease progression - PubMed

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) via the release of IL-1β and ASC specks. However, whether NLRP3 is involved in pathways beyond ...

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Sparwasser Lab @timsparwasser.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

2nd Brazilian-German Immunology Workshop Vienna, Austria August 15-16, 2025 DEADLINE for application: March 1 Pls apply to Tim Sparwasser (sparwasser.office’at’uni-mainz.de) or Bernardo Franklin (franklin’at’uni-bonn.de) by March 1 2025, stating the title of the lecture and a half-page abstract.

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

sfb1454.bsky.social @sfb1454.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

*Job Opportunity* Prof. Dominic Lemken is seeking a PhD candidate to research Consumer Behavior and Food Choices as part of our SFB! If you are passionate about #ConsumerBehavior and #FoodEconomics find out more here: www.uni-bonn.de/de/universit...

uni-bonn.de

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Dementia Researcher @dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Temple University @temple.edu in Philadelphia is recruiting for a Assistant or Associate Professor - Tenure Track Faculty to work on seeking Therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's Disease. Closing date: 9th March www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/job/assistan...

dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

Assistant or Associate Professor: Therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s

Temple University in Philadelphia is recruiting for a Assistant or Associate Professor - Tenure Track Faculty to work on seeking Therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's Disease.

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Lily Keane @lilykeane.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

🎉 Huge congratulations to @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social and Michael Heneka on this exciting study uncovering a novel role for NLRP3 in regulating microglial metabolism and phagocytosis to promote Alzheimer’s disease progression www.cell.com/immunity/abs...

cell.com

NLRP3-mediated glutaminolysis controls microglial phagocytosis to promote Alzheimer’s disease progression

How NLRP3 impacts Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is unclear. McManus et al. find that NLRP3 is located at mitochondria where it regulates microglial metabolism. Depletion or chronic pharmacological inhibiti...

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Alzheimer's Association @alzassociation.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Join us along with The Rainwater Charitable Foundation and CurePSP for #Tau2025, Apr. 24-25 in London or online! Be a part of the conversation as leading experts work to address the future of tau research. Register now: alz.org/Tau

alz.org

Tau Global Conference | Alzheimer’s Association

Leading experts from academia, industry, philanthropy and government will meet to address the future of tau research. Learn more and register.

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Oh I’m not going this year 🙈 have another appointment. Hope we can catch up soon!

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Thank you Steph! Looking forward to seeing what other tricks NLRP3 has up its sleeves 🥼🧠 delighted you’ve taken this on 💪

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

DZNE research center @dzne.science · 04/02/2025

Congratulations to @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social from DZNE in Bonn on her newly published paper in Immunity: "NLRP3-mediated glutaminolysis controls microglial phagocytosis to promote Alzheimer’s disease progression" 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.im... 👉 www.dzne.de/en/news/pres...

dzne.de

Lab Findings Support the Concept that Reducing Neuroinflammation Could Help Fight Alzheimer’s

New insights into immune cells in the context of neurodegeneration.

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

Dementia Researcher @dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The UK Dementia Research Institute @UKDRI is seeking an outstanding established academic to take the position of Centre Director, at the level of Clinical or non-Clinical Professor at Cardiff University. Closing date: 20th March www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/job/centre-d...

dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

Centre Director: UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff

The UK Dementia Research Institute are seeking an outstanding established academic to take the position of Centre Director, at the level of Clinical or non-Clinical Professor.

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

German Neuroscience Society e.V. - NWG @neurowissg.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Whether you feel a sudden urge to discuss your recent research findings OR have completely missed the abstract submission OR have just discovered this fabulous congress: Submit your Late Poster and/or register here: www.nwg-goettingen.de/2025/default... between 👉 03 – 20 February 2025 👈

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Reposted by Dr Róisín McManus

John Lukens @lukensjohnr.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

NLRP3-mediated glutaminolysis controls microglial phagocytosis to promote Alzheimer’s disease progression: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

This work highlights #NLRP3 inhibition as an important therapeutic target in #dementia, by not only blocking inflammation but also reprogramming the cells on a metabolic and epigenetic level (18)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

We then tested a NLRP3 inhibitor that could cross into the brain. NLRP3 inhibition reduced inflammasome activation and reprogrammed microglia to increase Abeta uptake, which was driven by SLC1A3+ microglia (17)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

In contrast, inhibiting JMJD3 reduced Slc1a3 mRNA, and the NLRP3-/- microglia were no longer metabolically efficient nor could they phagocytosis Abeta. aKG could not rescue this effect, confirming it was acting on the same part of the pathway (16)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

aKG is also an important co-factor for enzymes that modify the epigenetic landscape e.g. JMJD3. In line with this, we found the Slc1a3 gene region was more open and active in NLRP3-/- microglia (15)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

NLRP3 inhibition could mimic the genetic knock out, but only when used over many days. Interestingly the inhibitor-induced metabolic changes including increased aKG occurred upstream of gene transcription and phagocytic changes (14)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

In the scRNAseq, metabolism and phagocytosis were connected. Functionally the increased phagocytosis in the NLRP3-/- microglia was lost, when cells were deprived of glutamine or glutamate (via SLC1A3 inhibition). However aKG could rescue this (13)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

By tracing glutamine utilisation, we observed that NLRP3-/- cells preferred to use glutamine to produce the metabolite alpha-ketoglutarate (aKG) and the concentration of aKG (downstream of glutamate) was also increased (12)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

At a functional level, NLRP3-/- microglia had increased mitochondrial activity and respiration (oxygen consumption rate – OCR) (11)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

In contrast, in post mortem brain tissue of those with #Alzheimer’s disease who have inflammasome activation in their brain, we found reduced levels of SLC1A3 which was expressed in both microglia and astrocytes (10)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

At a protein level, we observed that microglia express SLC1A3 intracellularly, and the amount was increased in NLRP3-/- cells and cortex (9)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

SLC1A3 is well characterised on astrocytes. To verify the expression changes we performed bulk RNAseq on different NLRP3-/- microglia ex vivo and again saw an increase in microglial Slc1a3 (8)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

To uncover what was driving this, we did single cell RNAseq. This unveiled a population of NLRP3-/- microglia with a strong metabolic and phagocytic signature, and the most significantly changed gene was the glutamate transporter Slc1a3 (7)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

A thread on our main findings: During my postdoc I noticed something surprising, where NLRP3-/- microglia were much better at #phagocytosis than wild-type cells even under basal (unstimulated) conditions (6)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

If you’re curious whether this mechanism is relevant for other pathways or cell function, stay tuned for our next story from the McManus lab that we will be submitting soon! (5)

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Dr Róisín McManus @roisinmcmanus.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

From my side this work would not have been possible without generous support from @afi-ev.bsky.social, @immunosens.bsky.social , @sfb1454.bsky.social @dfg.de and the @alzassociation.bsky.social (4)

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