School of Infection & Immunity

Dr Ting Sun

Title: Spatial and Transcriptomic Characteristics of Resilient Oligodendroglia in Models of Multiple Sclerosis

Synopsis:

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common disabling neurological disorders and is characterised by the immune system mistakenly attacking and progressively damaging myelin, that is formed by oligodendrocytes (OLs) in the central nervous system. Currently, efforts to promote remyelination face continuous challenges in clinical translation. While animal models of acute demyelination show efficient remyelination driven by newly differentiated Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells (OPCs), surviving mature oligodendrocytes (MOLs) were also highlighted to be the key feature enabling remyelination under chronic and recurrent inflammatory stress in both mouse models and human MS patients. To date, the precise dissection of how oligodendrocytes adapt and persist across different stages of disease remains an exciting frontier, with many resilience features yet to be fully uncovered.

To further our understanding of critical remyelination time window, the required OL lineage cell population with their profile changes during MS, we utilised a mouse model induced with relapsing-remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) that allowed us to trace over three disease peaks and remitting periods. Spatial transcriptome profiling for 8 diverse disease phases was conducted using Xenium pan tissue and pathways panel to capture key stages linking to OL cell state and cellular neighbourhood transitions. Meanwhile, we combined lentiviral barcode lineage tracing of OPCs with adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated MOL-specific labelling in vivo following the depicted timepoints, with the goal of thoroughly assessing changes in resilient features along full-length of transcripts.

Bio:

Dr Ting Sun is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Gonçalo Castelo-Branco at Karolinska Institutet. Her research focuses on understanding how oligodendrocytes and their surrounding microenvironment interact to promote oligodendrocyte resilience, survival, and remyelination during chronic neuroinflammatory disease. Using a relapsing-remitting Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) model together with single-cell and spatial omics approaches, she aims to trace the cellular programmes and microenvironmental dynamics that promote or impede oligodendrocyte resilience and regeneration, and to establish their relevance to human multiple sclerosis.

First published: 7 August 2026

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