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SUMMARY:Pharmacology Seminar Series: Dr Florian Merkle\, Drug Discovery\, 
 Action\, and Repurposing in iPSC-derived Neurons - Florian Merkle\, Depart
 ment of Pharmacology\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20250307T160000Z
DTEND:20250307T170000Z
UID:TALK226885@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Daniel Paolo Juan
DESCRIPTION:Dr Florian Merkle\n\nPrincipal Investigator\, Department of Ph
 armacology\, University of Cambridge\n\nDrug Discovery\, Action\, and Repu
 rposing in iPSC-derived Neurons\n\nThe Merkle lab studies rare human brain
  cell populations that regulate hunger\, and whose activity is related to 
 obesity and diabetes. Specifically\, they differentiate human pluripotent 
 stem cells (hPSCs) into hypothalamic POMC neurons that suppress appetite\,
  and then characterize how they respond to existing anti-obesity drugs suc
 h as semaglutide/Ozempic\, as well as using them to discover novel therape
 utic strategies. In the past years\, we have developed scalable methods to
  measure the functional activity of POMC neurons using calcium imaging on 
 high-content confocal microscopes\, and by measuring their secretion of th
 e appetite-suppressing neuropeptide MSH in a high-throughput assay. We loo
 k forward to harnessing these models with our colleagues in Pharmacology a
 s our work moves increasingly toward therapeutic translation. 
LOCATION:Seminar Room (Level 2)\, Dept of Pharmacology 
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