Anna Gradl (PhD candidate, Verheijen/Rao lab)
I am originally from Austria where I did my bachelor’s in Biochemistry and then continued with a master’s degree in Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam. During my education I got very interested in the molecular dynamics of neural subcompartments, which I got to explore further in my past research internships at the lab of Dr. Priyanka Rao-Ruiz at the Vrije Universiteit and Dr. Jens Hjerling-Leffler the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, where I studied the proteomic characterization of synapses and their age-dependent connectivity respectively.
I joined the Superglue Consortium as part of the lab of Dr. Mark Verheijen and Dr. Priyanka Rao-Ruiz in April 2025, where my project focusses on the proteomic characterization of astrocytic subcompartments and their dynamic modulation during memory processing and the diurnal rhythm

Bianca Marin (PhD candidate, Goriounova lab)
Originally from Romania, I developed a deep fascination for electrophysiology during my neuroscience studies at the University of Bristol and the University of Amsterdam. Building on my previous research into ion channel kinetics and excitatory/inhibitory imbalances, I am now transitioning my focus on neuron-glia interactions. My PhD project investigates how astrocytes influence cognition in the human brain, utilizing a comparative approach between species.

Eva van der Meer (PhD candidate, Min lab)
Hi! I’m Eva, and I grew up just outside Amsterdam. I completed both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at Utrecht University, where I studied Molecular & Cellular Life Sciences with a focus on understanding cellular processes in neurons and microglia. I’m now very happy to be working with glia cells again, this time exploring the molecular framework within astrocyte endfeet and how this is disrupted in the disease Megalencephalic Leukoencephalopathy with Subcortical Cysts.

Giulia Anderson (PhD candidate, MacGillavry lab)
I graduated from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam with a Master’s degree in Neurosciences. Under the supervision of Amélie Fréal in the Functional Genomics department of the VU, I studied cell-type specific mechanisms of axon initial segment plasticity. I then worked in the department of Prof. Maren Engelhardt at the Johannes Kepler University where I used stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED) to reveal the nanoscale organization of cisternal organelles within human axon initial segments. I recently joined the lab of Harold Mac Gillavry in order to pursue my PhD under his supervision. My work will focus on detangling the molecular composition of perisynaptic astrocytic processes using genetic tools and super-resolution microscopy techniques.

Marleen van den Munkhof (Postdoc, Verheijen lab)
After completing my MSc in Neuroscience, I pursued a PhD at the UMC Utrecht, where I studied the molecular crosstalk between radial glial progenitors and migrating neurons in the developing mouse cortex. During this time, I became interested in how glial cells help shape neural circuits. This led me to join the department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology at the CNCR in Amsterdam, where my work focuses on optimising mouse and human in vitro models to investigate glia-neuron interactions at the synapse.

Michael de Jongh (PhD candidate, de Vries lab)
My name is Michael de Jongh, I’m from Geertruidenberg, a small city in the south of the Netherlands and I have a background in neuropsychology and fundamental neuroscience. My project focusses on developing in vitro models of the blood brain barrier (BBB) to investigate which astrocyte endfeet proteins are important for maintaining the BBB in health and disease.