Ruth Beckervordersandforth-Bonk

 

Research Interest

Astrocyte functional heterogeneity and adult gliogenesis

Astrocytes are considered major components of the hippocampal neurogenic niche, but their specific contribution to neurogenesis-dependent plasticity remains largely understudied. With my research I pursue the novel hypothesis that astrocyte heterogeneity and astrogenesis are critical modulators of neurogenesis dependent plasticity. Furthermore, I am interested in the role of mitochondrial metabolism in regulation of adult neurogenesis and neurodegeneration.

 

 

Biography

2013 – present	Group Leader, Institute of Biochemistry, FAU Erlangen
2012	Postdoctoral Scientist, Prof. Magdalena Götz, Institute of Stem Cell Research, Helmholtz Centre Munich
2007	PhD in Biology, Prof. Gerd Technau, Institute of Genetics, University of Mainz “Differentiation, specification and migration of lateral glial cells in the ventral nerve cord of late embryonic Drosophila melanogaster”
2003	Diploma in Biology, Westfälische-Wilhelms-University Münster

 

Awarded Grants and Fellowships

2013-2016	Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Sachbeihilfe BE-5136/1-1
2013	Neurowind travel grant
2004-2007	Scholarship from the Graduate School of Neuroscience Fully-funded doctoral position at the University of Mainz

 

Publications

• Gebara E, Bonaguidi MA*, Beckervordersandforth R*, Sultan S, Udry F, Gijs PJ, Lie DC, Ming G, Song S, and Toni N. (2015) Heterogeneity of radial glia-like cells in the adult hippocampus. Stem Cells 2016 Jan 1
• Beckervordersandforth R, Zhang CL, and Lie DC. 2015: Transcription factor-dependent control of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, Cold Spring Harb Perspecti. Biol doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a018879
• Beckervordersandforth R, Häberle BM, and Lie DC. (2015) Metabolic regulation of adult stem cell-derived neurons. Front.Biol., 2015, 10(2):107-116
• Fukusumi Y, Meier M, Götz S, Matheus F, Irmler M, Beckervordersandforth R, Faus-Kessler T, Minina E, Rauser B, Zhang J, Arenas E, Andersson E, Niehrs C, Beckers J, Simeone A, Wurst W, and Prakash N. (2015) Dickkopf 3 promotes the differentiation of a rostrolateral midbrain dopaminergic neural subset in vivo and from pluripotent stem cells in vitro in the mouse. J Neurosci. 2015 September 30;35(39):13385-13401
• Karow M, Schichor C, Beckervordersandforth R, and Berninger B. (2014) Lineage-reprogramming of pericyte-derived cells of the adult human brain into induced neurons. Journal of visualized experiments JoVE 01/2014 DOI:10.3791/51433
• Beckervordersandforth R*, Deshpande A, Schäffner I, Huttner HB, Lepier A, Lie CD, and Götz, M. (2014) In vivo targeting of adult neural stem cells in the dentate gyrus by a split-Cre approach Stem Cell Reports, 2014 Feb 6; 2(2);153-162
• Fischer J*, Beckervordersandforth R*, Tripathi P, Steiner-Mezzadri A, Ninkovic J, and Götz, M. (2011) Prospective isolation of the adult neural stem cells and their progeny from the mouse subependymal zone. Nat Protoc. 2011 Nov 17 ;6(12) :1981-9
• Costa MR, Ortega F, Brill MS, Beckervordersandforth R, Petrone C, Schroeder T, Götz M, and Berninger B. (2012) Continuous live imaging of adult neural stem cell division and lineage progression in vitro. Development, 138 (2011), 1057-1068 (2011)
• Eilken H, Rieger MA, Hoppe PS, Hermann AC, Smejkal BM, Drew EC, Thum M, Ninkovic J, Beckervordersandforth R, and Schroeder T. (2011) Continuous long-term detection of live cell surface markers by ‚in culture‘ antibody staining. Nature Protocol Exchange 2011 Jan (28); doi:10.1038/protex.2011.205
• Beckervordersandforth R*, Tripathi P*, Ninkovic J*, Bayam E, Lepier A, Stempfhuber B, Kirchhoff F, Hirrlinger J, Haslinger A, Lie DC, Beckers J, Yoder B, Irmler M, and Götz M. (2010) In vivo fate mapping and expression analysis reveals molecular hallmarks of prospectively isolated adult neural stem cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2010 Dec 3;7(6):744-58
• Gajera CR, Emich H, Lioubinski O, Christ A, Beckervordersandforth-Bonk R, Yoshikawa K, Bachmann S, Christensen EI, Götz M, Kempermann G, Perterson AS, Willnow TE, and Hammes A. (2010) LRP2 in ependymal cells regulates BMP signalling in the adult neurogenic niche. J Cell Sci. 2010 Jun 1;123(Pt11):1922-30. Epub 2010 May11
• Beckervordersandforth RM, Rickert C, Altenhein B, and Technau GM. (2008) Subtypes of glial cells in the Drosophila embryonic ventral nerve cord as related to lineage and gene expression. Mech Dev. 2008 May-Jun;125(5-6):542-57. Epub 2008 Jan 8
• von Hilchen CM, Beckervordersandforth RM, Rickert C, Technau GM, and Altenhein B. (2008) Identity, origin, and migration of peripheral glial cells in the Drosophila embryo. Mech Dev. 2008 Mar-Apr;125(3-4):337-52. Epub 2007 Nov 1

 

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