Great thesis defense by Astrid van der Geest today on unveiling early pathologies in #ALS using #organoids. @umcutrecht.bsky.social

Presentations at the annual meeting of our NWO Gravitation Consortium BRAINSCAPES with Nik Heijmink presenting our recent genetic sparse labeling approach in the dopamine midbrain and Pavol ZELINA sharing insights into HT screening for neurodegenerative disease using human in vitro models.

The Amsterdam City Swim was again a very special event that raised 1.7 million Euro for research into ALS last Sunday. I had the privilege to join with both both my son and daughter, which made it even more special. Thanks to everyone for sponsoring us. Looking forward to ACS 2026!

Thanks to the @neurochemistry.org (ISN) for allowing me to organize a symposium on ‘Molecular mechanisms of motor neuron disease’ at the 2025 ISN-ASN meeting in NYC. Great talks by Christine Vande Velde, Stefania Corti and Sami Barmada.

Extremely proud of Özge Düdükcü, who defended her thesis on GABAergic neuron diversity and development on May 1st in Utrecht!

This week we organized the 2nd edition of the DDSSCC (Development of the dopaminergic system - from stem cells to circuits) meeting in Crete! Great science and a fantastic atmosphere. Excellent talk by Eljo van Battum from the lab and a poster prize for Oxana Garritsen! See you all for DDSSCC 2028!

Had the pleasure of visiting the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London yesterday! Big thanks to Jemeen Sreedharan.

Registration for the 10th edition of our Summerschool on 'Neural circuit development and plasticity' is open! July 7-11 in Utrecht for MSc and PhD students, and others who are interested. Spread the news! @umcutrecht.bsky.social @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social

Excellent thesis defense today by Xandor Spijkers on microfluidics systems to model the neuromuscular system in collaboration with Nienke Wevers and Paul Vulto at MIMETAS! @umcutrecht.bsky.social

We are organising the AXON meeting in Rotterdam, September 17-19, 2025. Registration is open. See you on the ssRotterdam! axon2025.com

We have several positions available for research technicians and postdocs in the area of human in vitro model development (organoids, microfluidics, genome editing etc) for neurodegenerative disease. Interested? Please DM or send me an email.

I had the honour of giving a plenary lecture during the 'In vitro models' session of the #ALSMND2024 meeting in Montreal on our work on different types of in vitro models for studying ALS. #brainorganoids.

Excellent thesis defense by now Dr. Ilia Timpanaro last Tuesday: “A trail of crumbs and pebbles: epigenetic discovery of regulatory variants in neurodegenerative diseases”. @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social @umcutrecht.bsky.social

It is still possible to sign up for the 2025 DDSSCC meeting in beautiful Crete 🇬🇷. All you want to know about dopamine neuron development, circuitry, function, disease & therapy! Registration closes December 15! conferience.com/eventPage/dd...