Tom Van Agtmael
@tomvanagtmael.bsky.social
Professor of matrix biology, University of Glasgow. Interests: extracellular matrix biology/disease, collagen, cerebrovascular disease, small vessel disease, stroke. Views are my own.
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...
collaboration with Kostas Tokatlidis
Email me if interested.
Application deadline: 12 January 2026
www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl...
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
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www.gla.ac.uk
November 14, 2025 at 5:44 PM
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...
collaboration with Kostas Tokatlidis
Email me if interested.
Application deadline: 12 January 2026
www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl...
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
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...
Dual AAV gene therapy using laminin-linking proteins ameliorates muscle and nerve defects in LAMA2-related muscular dystrophy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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...
www.biorxiv.org
September 18, 2025 at 10:54 AM
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...
Dual AAV gene therapy using laminin-linking proteins ameliorates muscle and nerve defects in LAMA2-related muscular dystrophy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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...
@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...
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…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 16, 2025 at 10:57 AM
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...
@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...
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
"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/...
👇👇👇
Collagen Biosynthesis and Its Molecular Ensemble: What Remains Unexplored | Biochemistry pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
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...
pubs.acs.org
July 10, 2025 at 6:09 PM
"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/...
👇👇👇
Collagen Biosynthesis and Its Molecular Ensemble: What Remains Unexplored | Biochemistry pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
Here's what it gets you
July 12, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Here's what it gets you
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
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 🔥🔥🔥
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....
doi.org/10.1242/jcs....
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...
doi.org
July 11, 2025 at 11:38 PM
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 🔥🔥🔥
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
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....
doi.org/10.1242/jcs....
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...
doi.org
July 11, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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....
doi.org/10.1242/jcs....
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...
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...
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…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 13, 2025 at 1:45 PM
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...
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...
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
Dynamic regulation of integrin β1 phosphorylation supports invasion of breast cancer cells
rdcu.be/eoAUD
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...
rdcu.be
May 30, 2025 at 5:21 AM
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
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
May 26, 2025 at 7:45 AM
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
May 18, 2025 at 9:57 AM
And how are you meant to drive away from here? Parking in Barcelona
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
And we recreated it 150 years later. www.gla.ac.uk/news/archive...
April 28, 2025 at 8:30 PM
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 😂
April 29, 2025 at 1:42 PM
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...
new review just out in the journal #matrix_biology
"The life cycle of type IV collagen" by David Sherwood
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
April 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
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...
new review just out in the journal #matrix_biology
"The life cycle of type IV collagen" by David Sherwood
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
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...
April 28, 2025 at 7:42 AM
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...
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
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
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
2025 Collagen Conference GRC
The 2025 Gordon Research Conference on Collagen will be held in New London, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
April 28, 2025 at 12:07 AM
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
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!
April 28, 2025 at 8:25 AM
To all our undergraduate student's at @uofglasgow.bsky.social ..good luck with your exams!
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
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
#academicsky
April 26, 2025 at 12:36 PM
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
#academicsky
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
Collagen IV of basement membranes: I. Origin and diversification of COL4 genes enabling metazoan multicellularity, evolution and adaptation
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 25, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Collagen IV of basement membranes: I. Origin and diversification of COL4 genes enabling metazoan multicellularity, evolution and adaptation
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
Protocol for extraction and characterization of mouse brain-derived extracellular matrix for neuronal cell culture
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 25, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Protocol for extraction and characterization of mouse brain-derived extracellular matrix for neuronal cell culture
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Delighted our first adventure into #collagen III mutations in #vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is out.
In patient cells, ER stress is part of mechanism; targeting via clinically approved chemical chaperones rescued intracellular - and #matrix defects.
rdcu.be/ejhSR
In patient cells, ER stress is part of mechanism; targeting via clinically approved chemical chaperones rescued intracellular - and #matrix defects.
rdcu.be/ejhSR
The chemical chaperone 4-phenylbutyric acid rescues molecular cell defects of COL3A1 mutations that cause vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
Cell Death Discovery - The chemical chaperone 4-phenylbutyric acid rescues molecular cell defects of COL3A1 mutations that cause vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
rdcu.be
April 25, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Delighted our first adventure into #collagen III mutations in #vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is out.
In patient cells, ER stress is part of mechanism; targeting via clinically approved chemical chaperones rescued intracellular - and #matrix defects.
rdcu.be/ejhSR
In patient cells, ER stress is part of mechanism; targeting via clinically approved chemical chaperones rescued intracellular - and #matrix defects.
rdcu.be/ejhSR
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
🚨I promised I'd say more on the Royal Society and Elon Musk, so here it is. 🚨
I've resigned my position as Associate Editor at Royal Society's journal Open Science in protest at their lack of action over Elon Musk.
My op-ed in @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I've resigned my position as Associate Editor at Royal Society's journal Open Science in protest at their lack of action over Elon Musk.
My op-ed in @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Elon Musk is a proven danger to good science, but the Royal Society won’t say so. That’s why I resigned | Kit Yates
It is vital to act, and I urge colleagues to do so. How can we stand by and laud this man while he undermines scientific integrity? asks academic and author Kit Yates
www.theguardian.com
March 4, 2025 at 3:51 PM
🚨I promised I'd say more on the Royal Society and Elon Musk, so here it is. 🚨
I've resigned my position as Associate Editor at Royal Society's journal Open Science in protest at their lack of action over Elon Musk.
My op-ed in @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I've resigned my position as Associate Editor at Royal Society's journal Open Science in protest at their lack of action over Elon Musk.
My op-ed in @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Around campus at @uofglasgow.bsky.social this morning.
March 4, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Around campus at @uofglasgow.bsky.social this morning.
Reposted by Tom Van Agtmael
Mechanical thrombectomy for ischemic stroke improves blood-brain barrier permeability and minimizes secondary injury! Our latest study used DP-pcASL to measure BBBP www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 27, 2024 at 12:34 PM
Mechanical thrombectomy for ischemic stroke improves blood-brain barrier permeability and minimizes secondary injury! Our latest study used DP-pcASL to measure BBBP www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...