Mireia Gómez-Budia

• Master in Biomedicine
• PhD researcher at University of Eastern Finland

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a prevalent neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures originating from the cortex, amygdala and especially hippocampus. While two-thirds of TLE patients achieve seizure control through medication, approximately one-third remain refractory to pharmacological interventions. For these individuals, surgic...

Studies of neuronal functions during the pathological progression of Alzheimers disease (AD) in humans are limited due to the lack of live human brain tissue from patients with AD. To address this gap, we have established an exceptional approach to study the electrophysiological properties and cell morphologies of human neurons in acute slices obta...

Which isoforms of apolipoprotein E (apoE) we inherit determine our risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), but the mechanism underlying this link is poorly understood. In particular, the relevance of direct interactions between apoE and amyloid-β (Aβ) remains controversial. Here, single-molecule imaging shows that all isoforms of ap...

Background Air pollution is recognized as an emerging environmental risk factor for neurological diseases. Large-scale epidemiological studies associate traffic-related particulate matter (PM) with impaired cognitive functions and increased incidence of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Inhaled components of PM may directly in...

LRRK2‑G2019S is one of the most common Parkinson’s disease (PD)‑associated mutations and has been shown to alter microglial functionality. However, the impact of LRRK2‑G2019S on transcriptional profile of human induced pluripotent stem cell‑derived microglia‑like cells (iMGLs) and how it corresponds to microglia in idiopathic PD brain is not known....

Brain functionality resides on finely tuned regulation of gene expression by networks of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) such as the one composed by the circular RNA ciRS-7, the microRNA miR-7 and the long non-coding RNA Cyrano. However, very little is known on how this network regulates stress responses in neurodegeneration. Here we describe ischemia ind...

Hypoxia induces changes in the secretion of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in several non-neuronal cells and pathological conditions. EVs are packed with biomolecules, such as microRNA(miR)-21-5p, which respond to hypoxia. However, the true EV association of miR-21-5p, and its functional or biomarker relevance, are inadequately characterised. Neurons...

Background Microglia are the endogenous immune cells of the brain and act as sensors of pathology to maintain brain homeostasis and eliminate potential threats. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), toxic amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulates in the brain and forms stiff plaques. In late-onset AD accounting for 95% of all cases, this is thought to be due to reduced...

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and currently only few therapeutic options are available. Stroke is a sexually dimorphic disease contributing to the difficulty in finding efficient treatments. Poststroke neuroinflammation is geared largely by brain microglia and infiltrating peripheral immune cells and largely contributes to...

Neuroinflammation is an important feature in the pathogenesis and progression of central nervous system (CNS) diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). One of the widely used animal models of peripherally induced neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration is a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation mouse model. An acute LPS administration ha...

Background Microglia are the endogenous immune cells of the brain and act as sensors of pathology to maintain brain homeostasis and eliminate potential threats. In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), toxic amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulates in the brain and forms stiff plaques. In late-onset AD accounting for 95% of all cases, this is thought to be due to reduced...

Human cerebral organoids, derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, offer a unique in vitro research window to the development of the cerebral cortex. However, a key player in the developing brain, the microglia, do not natively emerge in cerebral organoids. Here we show that erythromyeloid progenitors (EMPs), differentiated from induced pluripo...

Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived neuron cultures have emerged as models of electrical activity in the human brain. Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) measure changes in the extracellular electric potential of cell cultures or tissues and enable the recording of neuronal network activity. MEAs have been applied to both human subjects and hPSC-de...

Human stem cell-derived brain organoids provide a physiologically relevant in vitro 3D brain model for studies of neurological development that are unique to the human nervous system. Prior studies have reported protocols that support the maturation of microglia from mesodermal progenitors leading to innately developing microglia within the organoi...

Every second we inhale a danger in the air; many particles in the atmosphere can influence our lives. Outdoor air pollution, especially particulate matter is the largest environmental risk factor and has been associated with many cardiovascular and lung diseases. Importantly, air pollution has recently been discovered to also impact the brain. Here...

Here we elucidate the effect of Alzheimer disease (AD)-predisposing genetic backgrounds, APOE4, PSEN1DE9, and APPswe, on function-ality of human microglia-like cells (iMGLs). We present a physiologically relevant high-yield protocol for producing iMGLs from induced pluripotent stem cells. Differentiation is directed with small molecules through pri...