PAW - University of Oxford

Social anxiety is a trigger for neurological disorders such as Tourette’s syndrome (TS) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). However, the connection between anxiety and the motor symptoms of the disorders is poorly understood. Ricardo's research has aimed to better understand this connection, finding novel a histamine synaptic-hub in a region highly related to social anxiety and control of feeding habits. The results propose a novel neuromodulatory connection among brain regions implicated in anxiety and movement during early life, that could help put the pieces of TS/OCD puzzle together.

Endothelial cells (ECs) constitute the inner lining of the cardiovascular system. During development, differential gene expression leads to distinct EC subpopulations, essential for the creation of the hierarchically branched vascular system: arteries, veins, capillaries and endocardium). The role of the NFAT family of transcription factors in the regulation of these ECs remains largely unexplored; the majority of the research focused only in the heart. Helena will introduce a potential novel role for NFAT transcription factors in venous ECs and discuss some of the methods used.