Leon Smyth
@leonsmyth.bsky.social
CNS immunology, stroma, and barriers | Group Leader @Monash | former postdoc in @kipnislab @WUSTL | Kiwi 🥝 🇳🇿
Reposted by Leon Smyth
So excited to share with you our latest work, result of my PhD with Dr.Rejane Rua at the @ciml.bsky.social! 🍾
If you want to brainstorm about bone channels and skull’s contribution to meningeal immunity, have a look! 🔬🧠
If you want to brainstorm about bone channels and skull’s contribution to meningeal immunity, have a look! 🔬🧠
Online now: Remodeling of skull bone channels regulates immune infiltration into the meninges during neuroinflammation
Remodeling of skull bone channels regulates immune infiltration into the meninges during neuroinflammation
Skull marrow communicates with the meninges through bone channels, yet their formation and regulation remain poorly understood. Eme-Scolan et al. show that these channels undergo active remodeling during the neonatal period and can be reshaped by modulating osteoclast activity. Channel remodeling affects immune-cell trafficking to brain borders, offering a potential strategy to tune meningeal immunity during inflammation.
dlvr.it
December 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
So excited to share with you our latest work, result of my PhD with Dr.Rejane Rua at the @ciml.bsky.social! 🍾
If you want to brainstorm about bone channels and skull’s contribution to meningeal immunity, have a look! 🔬🧠
If you want to brainstorm about bone channels and skull’s contribution to meningeal immunity, have a look! 🔬🧠
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Remodeling of skull bone channels regulates immune infiltration into the meninges during neuroinflammation: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
Remodeling of skull bone channels regulates immune infiltration into the meninges during neuroinflammation
Skull marrow communicates with the meninges through bone channels, yet their formation
and regulation remain poorly understood. Eme-Scolan et al. show that these channels
undergo active remodeling dur...
www.cell.com
December 29, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Remodeling of skull bone channels regulates immune infiltration into the meninges during neuroinflammation: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
Reposted by Leon Smyth
How Our Brain Drains Its Waste Products
and its relevance to our sleep quality and risk of neurodegenerative diseases
A podcast with @jonykipnis.bsky.social and illustrative text summary of 3 of his recent review articles
erictopol.substack.com/p/how-our-br...
and its relevance to our sleep quality and risk of neurodegenerative diseases
A podcast with @jonykipnis.bsky.social and illustrative text summary of 3 of his recent review articles
erictopol.substack.com/p/how-our-br...
How Our Brain Drains Its Waste Products
Particular Relevance to Sleep, Alzheimer's Disease and Immune Surveillance
erictopol.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 4:52 PM
How Our Brain Drains Its Waste Products
and its relevance to our sleep quality and risk of neurodegenerative diseases
A podcast with @jonykipnis.bsky.social and illustrative text summary of 3 of his recent review articles
erictopol.substack.com/p/how-our-br...
and its relevance to our sleep quality and risk of neurodegenerative diseases
A podcast with @jonykipnis.bsky.social and illustrative text summary of 3 of his recent review articles
erictopol.substack.com/p/how-our-br...
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Smyth, Mehta, @jonykipnis.bsky.social et al. show that bridging veins accumulate amyloid in mouse models of #Alzheimers disease and human Alzheimer’s disease specimens, associated with impaired cerebrospinal fluid efflux. rupress.org/jem/article/...
🎥 See video summary: youtu.be/FsM6ontxHEI
🎥 See video summary: youtu.be/FsM6ontxHEI
December 16, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Smyth, Mehta, @jonykipnis.bsky.social et al. show that bridging veins accumulate amyloid in mouse models of #Alzheimers disease and human Alzheimer’s disease specimens, associated with impaired cerebrospinal fluid efflux. rupress.org/jem/article/...
🎥 See video summary: youtu.be/FsM6ontxHEI
🎥 See video summary: youtu.be/FsM6ontxHEI
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Curiosity sparked it all, and that curiosity just earned one of science’s highest honors. In the Australian, rb.gy/cdwmki
Yet government funding for curiosity-driven science is at an all-time low. Success rates are plummeting. If we don’t invest in curiosity, we risk losing the next big discovery.
Yet government funding for curiosity-driven science is at an all-time low. Success rates are plummeting. If we don’t invest in curiosity, we risk losing the next big discovery.
December 17, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Curiosity sparked it all, and that curiosity just earned one of science’s highest honors. In the Australian, rb.gy/cdwmki
Yet government funding for curiosity-driven science is at an all-time low. Success rates are plummeting. If we don’t invest in curiosity, we risk losing the next big discovery.
Yet government funding for curiosity-driven science is at an all-time low. Success rates are plummeting. If we don’t invest in curiosity, we risk losing the next big discovery.
Reposted by Leon Smyth
@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social The circadian clock regulates scavenging of fluid-borne substrates by brain border-associated macrophages
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvard.edu @hhmi-science.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvard.edu @hhmi-science.bsky.social
December 16, 2025 at 10:17 PM
@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social The circadian clock regulates scavenging of fluid-borne substrates by brain border-associated macrophages
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvard.edu @hhmi-science.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvard.edu @hhmi-science.bsky.social
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Insights @jem.org
Bridging veins in Alzheimer's disease: Decoding waste clearance failure
rupress.org/jem/article/...
Bridging veins in Alzheimer's disease: Decoding waste clearance failure
rupress.org/jem/article/...
December 13, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Insights @jem.org
Bridging veins in Alzheimer's disease: Decoding waste clearance failure
rupress.org/jem/article/...
Bridging veins in Alzheimer's disease: Decoding waste clearance failure
rupress.org/jem/article/...
Thank you very much to Maiken and her team for writing this news and views article about our recent work on bridging vein amyloidosis!
doi.org/10.1084/jem....
doi.org/10.1084/jem....
Bridging veins in Alzheimer's disease: Decoding waste clearance failure | Journal of Experimental Medicine | Rockefeller University Press
Perivenous tunnels surrounding bridging veins terminate at “arachnoid cuff exit” (ACE) points, which enable waste efflux from the brain. Smyth et al. show
doi.org
December 10, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Thank you very much to Maiken and her team for writing this news and views article about our recent work on bridging vein amyloidosis!
doi.org/10.1084/jem....
doi.org/10.1084/jem....
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Amyloidosis of bridging veins in AD mouse models and humans - clogged CSF exit routes. New from Smyth, Mehta, @jonykipnis.bsky.social @washumedicine.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jem/article/...
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
December 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Amyloidosis of bridging veins in AD mouse models and humans - clogged CSF exit routes. New from Smyth, Mehta, @jonykipnis.bsky.social @washumedicine.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jem/article/...
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Amyloidosis of bridging veins in AD mouse models and humans - clogged CSF exit routes. New in @jem.org from Smyth, Mehta, @jonykipnis.bsky.social @washumedicine.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jem/article/...
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
December 2, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Amyloidosis of bridging veins in AD mouse models and humans - clogged CSF exit routes. New in @jem.org from Smyth, Mehta, @jonykipnis.bsky.social @washumedicine.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jem/article/...
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
#Neuroinflammation #Alzheimers
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Excited to share our new preprint: “Local B cell maturation and mast cell regulation of choroid plexus function in early life” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... , initiated in the lab by Laetitia Travier and led by the one and only @fakesamir.bsky.social
Local B cell maturation and mast cell regulation of choroid plexus function in early life.
Postnatal development is a critical period for the maturation of the nervous and immune systems. The choroid plexus (CP) within the brain ventricles guides brain development through the production of ...
www.biorxiv.org
December 3, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Excited to share our new preprint: “Local B cell maturation and mast cell regulation of choroid plexus function in early life” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... , initiated in the lab by Laetitia Travier and led by the one and only @fakesamir.bsky.social
Excited to share my final postdoc project published. We looked into the striking amyloidosis of important brain waste clearance sites (bridging veins) in mouse and human. A great collaborative project with Rupal Mehta at Rush who did all the human studies. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
Amyloidosis of bridging veins is a pathologic feature of Alzheimer’s disease @jem.org @jonykipnis.bsky.social @leonsmyth.bsky.social @washumedicine.bsky.social
rupress.org/jem/article-...
rupress.org/jem/article-...
December 2, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Excited to share my final postdoc project published. We looked into the striking amyloidosis of important brain waste clearance sites (bridging veins) in mouse and human. A great collaborative project with Rupal Mehta at Rush who did all the human studies. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Amyloidosis of bridging veins is a pathologic feature of Alzheimer’s disease @jem.org @jonykipnis.bsky.social @leonsmyth.bsky.social @washumedicine.bsky.social
rupress.org/jem/article-...
rupress.org/jem/article-...
December 2, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Amyloidosis of bridging veins is a pathologic feature of Alzheimer’s disease @jem.org @jonykipnis.bsky.social @leonsmyth.bsky.social @washumedicine.bsky.social
rupress.org/jem/article-...
rupress.org/jem/article-...
Beautiful work on postnatal meningeal B cell proliferation and instruction by local fibroblasts!
Early-life stromal niches orchestrate B lymphopoiesis at the brain's borders https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.27.690844v1
November 30, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Beautiful work on postnatal meningeal B cell proliferation and instruction by local fibroblasts!
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Early-life stromal niches orchestrate B lymphopoiesis at the brain's borders https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.27.690844v1
November 30, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Early-life stromal niches orchestrate B lymphopoiesis at the brain's borders https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.27.690844v1
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Microglial CLEC7A restrains amyloid beta plaque pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
@alzdemjournals.bsky.social
@alzdemjournals.bsky.social
November 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Microglial CLEC7A restrains amyloid beta plaque pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
@alzdemjournals.bsky.social
@alzdemjournals.bsky.social
Reposted by Leon Smyth
I'm hiring! Come and work with me at UCL to try and understand how the brain's blood vessels go wrong and promote dementia: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:01 AM
I'm hiring! Come and work with me at UCL to try and understand how the brain's blood vessels go wrong and promote dementia: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance: @cp-neuron.bsky.social www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
November 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance: @cp-neuron.bsky.social www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Nice overview on the knowns and unknowns about pathways and mechanisms governing brain immunity and clearance. 🫶🏻😃
“Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance”
Check it out 👇🏻
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
“Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance”
Check it out 👇🏻
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
authors.elsevier.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Nice overview on the knowns and unknowns about pathways and mechanisms governing brain immunity and clearance. 🫶🏻😃
“Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance”
Check it out 👇🏻
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
“Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance”
Check it out 👇🏻
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
A great consensus review on brain washing from the groups doing some of the most important work in the field summarizing areas of agreement and open questions.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance
This review by Kipnis et al. explores recent advances in brain fluid dynamics, emphasizing
CSF flow’s role in waste clearance, the glymphatic and meningeal lymphatic systems,
and neuroimmune interacti...
cell.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:10 PM
A great consensus review on brain washing from the groups doing some of the most important work in the field summarizing areas of agreement and open questions.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Wonderful to see our work so clearly and professionally presented at #AIC2025 by co–first author and graduate student Kevin Telfer.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
November 22, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Wonderful to see our work so clearly and professionally presented at #AIC2025 by co–first author and graduate student Kevin Telfer.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Thrilled to share this last little bit of my thesis work w/ @siegenthalerlab.bsky.social! 🐭🧠 Generating the PDGFRa cKO line we use in this paper was no trivial task, spanning multiple years (& a pandemic!) We were extremely excited to see this phenotype & even more excited to share it with everyone!
Our work out in @devbiol.bsky.social, PDGFra is needed for 🧠 perivascular fibroblast development... ⬇️ perivascular fibroblast = ⬇️ perivascular macrophage...cross-talk? 👀
Led by Hannah Jones @hejcell.bsky.social w/ Kelsey Abrams, Sophia Kim, excited for more projects w/ @fantauzzolab.bsky.social!
Led by Hannah Jones @hejcell.bsky.social w/ Kelsey Abrams, Sophia Kim, excited for more projects w/ @fantauzzolab.bsky.social!
November 20, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Thrilled to share this last little bit of my thesis work w/ @siegenthalerlab.bsky.social! 🐭🧠 Generating the PDGFRa cKO line we use in this paper was no trivial task, spanning multiple years (& a pandemic!) We were extremely excited to see this phenotype & even more excited to share it with everyone!
Reposted by Leon Smyth
Our work out in @devbiol.bsky.social, PDGFra is needed for 🧠 perivascular fibroblast development... ⬇️ perivascular fibroblast = ⬇️ perivascular macrophage...cross-talk? 👀
Led by Hannah Jones @hejcell.bsky.social w/ Kelsey Abrams, Sophia Kim, excited for more projects w/ @fantauzzolab.bsky.social!
Led by Hannah Jones @hejcell.bsky.social w/ Kelsey Abrams, Sophia Kim, excited for more projects w/ @fantauzzolab.bsky.social!
November 20, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Our work out in @devbiol.bsky.social, PDGFra is needed for 🧠 perivascular fibroblast development... ⬇️ perivascular fibroblast = ⬇️ perivascular macrophage...cross-talk? 👀
Led by Hannah Jones @hejcell.bsky.social w/ Kelsey Abrams, Sophia Kim, excited for more projects w/ @fantauzzolab.bsky.social!
Led by Hannah Jones @hejcell.bsky.social w/ Kelsey Abrams, Sophia Kim, excited for more projects w/ @fantauzzolab.bsky.social!
Reposted by Leon Smyth
PDGFRα is required for postnatal cerebral perivascular fibroblast development. Congrats @siegenthalerlab.bsky.social ! #cerebrovascular #fibroblasts #development
PDGFRα is required for postnatal cerebral perivascular fibroblast development
Perivascular fibroblasts (PVFs) are a cell type associated with large diameter blood vessels in the brain and spinal cord parenchyma and leptomeninges…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:30 AM
PDGFRα is required for postnatal cerebral perivascular fibroblast development. Congrats @siegenthalerlab.bsky.social ! #cerebrovascular #fibroblasts #development