Prof Dies Meijer

Personal profile

Dies Meijer received his BSc and MSc in Molecular Sciences from Wageningen University and his PhD in Molecular Genetics and Developmental Biology from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1992. After postdoctoral training at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill London, he established his research group in the department of Genetics at the Erasmus University Medical Center and initiated research into glial cell development and myelination of the peripheral nervous system. In 2013 he moved to the University of Edinburgh, where he joined the Centre for Neuroregeneration and Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences.

Prof Meijer was appointed as the CNR's Postgraduate Director in March 2016.

Research Theme

• Genes and Development

Research

Dynamic interactions between neuronal cells shape key morphological and functional properties of the nervous system during ontogeny and adult life. This is most profoundly illustrated by the elaboration of the myelin sheath that surrounds many axons, and by the assembly and dynamics of the neuronal synapse. We are interested in the molecular interactions that coordinate these complex cell-cell interactions and shape the transcriptional programs of cell differentiation and homeostasis in the nervous system.

One class of molecules that play important roles in these processes are the LGI (Leucine-rich Glioma Inactivated) glycoproteins. They have been implicated in tumorigenesis, hereditary forms of epilepsy, limbic encephalitis and peripheral nerve amyelination. Our previous work revealed that Schwann cells secrete LGI4, which through binding to the axonal receptor ADAM22 drives axonal ensheathment and myelination in the peripheral nervous system. More recent experiments also implicate LGI2 and LGI3 in the cyto-architecture of myelinated nerve fibers and synapse biology. Our current work aims to identify the mechanism(s) through which LGI molecules coordinate formation and organization of the myelin sheath and contribute to synapse formation and strength. In a second line of research, we are building on our earlier work of the transcription factors Oct6 and Brn2 to define the complete transcriptional network of myelination in the peripheral nervous system.

Funding

• BBSRC
• Wellcome Trust

Team Members

• Gavin Steel, Senior Technical Officer
• Stephen Bradley, PhD student 
• Nina Kozar, Post-doctoral Fellow

• Atanaska Velichkova,  Post-doctoral Fellow

Collaborations

• Dr Dick Jaarsma, Erasmus MC, the Netherlands
• Dr Martine Jaegle, Erasmus MC, the Netherlands
• Professor Masaki Fukatu and Dr Yuko Fukata, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), Japan
• Dr Iris Oren, University of Edinburgh 
• Prof Richard Ribchester, University of Edinburgh