Dr Tim Czopka
Chancellor's Fellow
- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences
Contact details
- Email: tim.czopka@ed.ac.uk
- Web: group homepage (external)
Address
- Street
-
Chancellor's Building
Edinburgh BioQuarter
49 Little France Crescent - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH16 4SB
Background
I studied Biology and obtained my PhD in Neuroscience in 2009 from the Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany). Following my postdoctoral research at the University of Edinburgh (UK), I became a Principal Investigator in 2015 at the Technical University of Munich (Germany). In 2020 my group moved to University of Edinburgh (UK).
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Current PhD students supervised
- Tobias Hoche (PhD student at Technical University of Munich)
- Roberta Marisca (PhD student at Technical University of Munich)
- Stavros Vagionitis (PhD student at Technical University of Munich)
Past PhD students supervised
- Franziska Auer (PhD student at Technical University of Munich). Now postdoc with David Schoppik (NYU Langone, USA)
Research summary
We aim to understand how oligodendrocytes communicate with neurons, and how these interactions affect the brain.
About 5% of all brain cells are undifferentiated oligodendrocyte precursor cells which tile the brain throughout life. These cells sense nervous system activity and represent the cellular source for new myelin during long-term development, plastic adaptations, and CNS regeneration. However, there are many more oligodendrocyte precursors than ever differentiate, but which still constantly communicate with surrounding neurons and other CNS cells. How this cell population can be triggered to produce new myelin, and how the non-myelinating oligoendrocytes affect nervous system function, remains unclear.
To address this, we use zebrafish as model organism and a wide range of complementary methods including high-resolution optical microscopy of live cell reporters, optophysiology and biomolecular sensor imaging, cellular genetic manipulations, and behavioural analysis.
Current team members
- Adna Dumitrescu (postdoctoral research assistant)
- Laura Hoodless (postdoctoral research assistant)
Collaborators
- Gonçalo Castelo Branco (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
- Hernán Lopez-Schier (Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany)
- Ruben Portugues (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
Current project grants
- ERC Starting Grant (02/2017 - 01/2022)
Past project grants
- Project grant - Collaborative Research Cluster CRC870 "Assembly and Function of Neuronal Circuits" (Technical University of Munich, 2018-2021)
- Collaborative research funding as Associate PI in the DFG cluster of excellence “Systems Neurology - SyNergy” (Technical University of Munich, 2016-2020)
- Emmy Noether PI Fellowship of the German Research Foundation (Technical University of Munich, 2015-2020)
- EMBO long-term postdoctoral fellowship (2012 - 2014)
-
Functionally distinct subgroups of oligodendrocyte precursor cells integrate neural activity and execute myelin formation
(12 pages)
In:
Nature Neuroscience, vol. 23, pp. 363-374
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-019-0581-2
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Systemic loss of Sarm1 protects Schwann cells from chemotoxicity by delaying axon degeneration
In:
Communications biology, vol. 3, pp. 49
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-0776-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Evidence for Myelin Sheath Remodeling in the CNS Revealed by In Vivo Imaging
In:
Current Biology, vol. 28, pp. 549-559.e3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.017
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Synaptic vesicle release regulates myelin sheath number of individual oligodendrocytes in vivo
(3 pages)
In:
Nature Neuroscience, vol. 18, pp. 628-30
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3991
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Myelin Membrane Wrapping of CNS Axons by PI(3,4,5)P3-Dependent Polarized Growth at the Inner Tongue
(14 pages)
In:
Cell, vol. 156, pp. 277-290
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.044
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Individual Oligodendrocytes Have Only a Few Hours in which to Generate New Myelin Sheaths In Vivo
(11 pages)
In:
Developmental Cell, vol. 25, pp. 599-609
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2013.05.013
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)