NEURON-GLIA DYNAMICS LAB
(@ NEUROSCIENCES AND PHARMACOLOGY)
At the Neuro-Glia Dynamics Lab, we explore the bidirectional communication between neurons and astrocytes. Our research focuses on the dynamic interactions at the tripartite synapse, shaping synaptic transmission, plasticity, and overall information processing within the central nervous system.
We are particularly interested in how astrocytes influence neural circuit dynamics and behavior, in both healthy and diseased states. Our multidisciplinary approach combines cellular neuroscience, advanced imaging, electrophysiology, behavioral analysis, and computational tools to unravel the fundamental principles of neuron-glia communication.
Current Research Focus:
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- Astrocytic Calcium Signaling and Gliotransmission
We investigate how calcium signaling in astrocytes and the release of gliotransmitters mediate the effects of key neuromodulators, on synaptic function within the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex. - Astrocyte-Neuron Crosstalk in Absence Epilepsy
We study how neuronal and astrocytic mechanisms in the thalamus, hippocampus, and cortex contribute to absence seizures and associated cognitive comorbidities. - Behavioral Dynamics and Seizure States
Using automated behavioral tracking and analysis, we characterize how behavior changes during interictal and pre-ictal phases of absence seizures, aiming to link these dynamics to cognitive comorbidities, offering insights into the broader impact of epilepsy on daily function.
- Astrocytic Calcium Signaling and Gliotransmission
Through our research, the Neuro-Glia Dynamics Lab is redefining the role of glial cells in brain function and dysfunction. By shedding light on neuron-glia interactions, we aim to advance our understanding of the brain and open new avenues for treating neurological disorders.
RESEARCH TEAM
Vaz, Sandra, PhD
GROUP LEADER
Sandra Vaz graduated in Biochemistry by the Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL), and obtained her Ph.D. from the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL), having worked at the FMUL and the Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen (Denmark). She later undertook postdoctoral research at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM), Lisbon, investigating the role of astrocytes in synaptic plasticity.
She is currently Assistant Professor and Principal Researcher at FMUL, leading the Neuron-Glia Dynamics Lab. Her team has contributed significantly to understanding how astrocytes regulate synaptic transmission and plasticity, influence neuronal network dynamics, and affect behaviour, in both physiological and pathological conditions such as absence seizures and ALS. Her research is driven by a long-standing interest in astrocytic calcium (Ca²⁺) signalling, drawing on her expertise in patch-clamp recordings, synaptic physiology, and behavioural testing.
Sandra is a board member of the Portuguese Glial Network (since 2024) and the Mediterranean Neuroscience Society (since 2023), and served as Treasurer of the Portuguese Society for Pharmacology (2022–2025). She has coordinated several research projects and, in 2021, received the International Society for Neurochemistry Career Development Grant. In 2024, she also received the AccelBio – Open Call for Drug Discovery award.
ORCID ID:0000-0003-4258-9397
E-mail: svaz@medicina.ulisboa.pt
Gonçalves-Ribeiro, Joana, PhD
Postdoc Researcher
Joana graduated in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (Portugal), in 2016. She obtained her Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the same institution in 2018, and in 2025 completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences (Neurosciences specialization) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon. Her doctoral research focused on the role of astrocytic CB1 receptors in synaptic plasticity and depressive-like behavior, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota (Prof. Alfonso Araque) and the University of Barcelona (Dr. Gemma Navarro).
Joana has broad expertise in in vitro techniques (neuronal cultures, neuroblastoma cell lines, western blotting, immunofluorescence), ex vivo approaches (brain dissection and region isolation, electrophysiology including extracellular and patch-clamp recordings), as well as in vivo procedures (animal handling and experimental procedures).
ORCID: 0000-0002-5194-6512
E-mail: jgribeiro@medicina.ulisboa.pt
Neuparth Sottomayor, Mariana, MSc
PhD Student
Mariana is a Biologist (BSc in Biology, Universidade de Lisboa) who completed her Master’s in Evolutionary and Developmental Biology in 2022, focusing on cognitcive comorbidities associated with absence seizures. She is now a PhD student exploring how astrocytes contribute to absence seizures and their associated cognitive deficits. Her research combines genetic models of absence epilepsy with a range of experimental approaches, including behavioral testing, EEG implantation and in vivo recordings, ex vivo electrophysiological assays, as well as imaging techniques, immunohistochemistry, and western blot analysis.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2309-0171
E-mail: mariana.sottomayor@medicina.ulisboa.pt
Florido, Luísa, MSc
PhD Student
Luísa completed her BSc in Biochemistry (2019) and her MSc in Neurobiology (2024), both at the University of Porto. For her MSc Thesis she worked at i3S, focusing on validating the usage of proximity biotinylation to specifically label and collect proteins secreted from cultured astrocytes. She is now a PhD Student at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, and is working on unravelling astrocyte potential pharmacological targets for Absence Seizures.
Coutinho, Catarina, BSc
PhD Student
Catarina graduated in Applied Mathematics from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (2001).
She completed a postgraduate program in Operations Research and Systems Engineering in 2006 and published a paper entitled “A Two-Phase Heuristic for the Bi-Objective 0/1 Knapsack Problem” (2007). She also holds a Master’s degree in Exercise and Health (2019).
Catarina is currently a Neuroscience PhD student at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon. Her research focuses on applying Artificial Intelligence techniques to understand absence seizures. Specifically, she uses machine learning algorithms to explore the behavioral phenotype of absence seizures and their cognitive comorbidities in animal models.
Suárez Castellanos, Katherine, MSc
PhD Student
Katherine is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at the Universidade de Lisboa (2024–present). Her doctoral research investigates the mechanisms of BDNF-TrkB signaling in regulating glutamate transporters and network excitability in absence epilepsy, and its affective comorbidities such as anxiety and depression. She holds an MSc in Neuroscience from the Universitat de València (Spain, 2020), where she explored the effects of deep brain stimulation of the infralimbic cortex in an animal model of anxiety, uncovering sex-specific differences in hippocampal and amygdala oscillations. She also earned a BSc in Psychology from the Pontifical Bolivarian University (Colombia, 2017) and a Diploma in Clinical Neuropsychology from Konrad Lorenz University (2015). Her research is focused on experimental, translational, and clinical neuroscience. She has worked with rodent models to investigate brain oscillations, network excitability, and novel neuromodulatory strategies, while also practicing as a clinical neuropsychologist, specializing in cognitive assessment, rehabilitation, and interdisciplinary care for patients with neurological and psychiatric conditions.
Her scientific interests include epilepsy, astrocytic mechanisms, neurotrophic signaling, anxiety, depression and the development of translational strategies bridging basic neuroscience with clinical neuropsychology.
Sales Garcia, Cristian, BSc
MSc Student
Cristian graduated in Biochemistry (Grinnell College, USA) in 2023, after which he became a NeuroData Erasmus Mundus scholar pursuing a double degree master’s in Brain and Data Science/Biomedical Engineering. He is currently developing his master’s thesis for the Instituto Superior Técnico at the Neuron-Glia Lab (FMUL-CCUL), under the supervision of Sandra Vaz. The main topic of his research is absence epilepsy and its commorbidities, in which he balances neurophysiology and behavioral techniques with data science. In an attempt to facilitate research, he is developing an open-source, automated seizure detection algorithm to use on recordings of the Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg.
Tavares. Ana Sofia, BSc
MSc Student
Ana Sofia undertook her BSc in Biochemistry at University of Coimbra (2024). Currently, she’s doing her MSc in Biochemistry and Biomedicine at the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon. Her thesis project seeks to investigate the hypothesis that GDNF signalling is altered in Absence Seizures (Ass) by using Western Blotting and Immunohistochemistry techniques, as well as doing field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) recordings on ex vivo hippocampal samples from GAERS rats, an animal model for absence epilepsy. The aim of the project is to unveil if GDNF signalling dysfunction contribute for ASs and the respective associated cognitive comorbidities.
Fernandes, Daniela, BSc
MSc Student
Daniela holds a BSc in Biology (Faculty of sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2024) and is currently conducting her master’s dissertation in this lab as part of her MSc in Biochemistry and Biomedicine at the same institution. Her research explores whether microglial dysfunction contributes to absence seizures by studying microglial morphology and inflammatory marker expression in animal models of absence epilepsy across development.
Using techniques such as immunohistochemistry, MACS, FACS, RT-qPCR, and Western blotting, she aims to clarify how microglial profiles influence seizure severity and brain recovery, ultimately paving the way for new therapeutic strategies.
RECENT PROJECTS
Ongoing:
2024 – 2026: “Is GAT1 the shared molecular mechanism between absence seizures and their comorbid Memory deficits?”. AccelBio – Open Call 2024 for Drug discovery projects. Principal Investigator.
2024 – 2026: “PANERIS- Pan-European Network for Neuroscience Research Infrastructure and Strengthening of Support capacities”. Horizon Europe (Grant agreement ID: 101160180). Collaborator.
2022 – 2025: “Does context matter for drug action? Contextual dependency of the long-lasting neurobiological and antidepressant actions of psilocybin “. FCT (PTDC/MED-FAR/4834/2021). Researcher.
2022 – 2025: “Profilin1 at the crossroads between microglia, aging and neurodegeneration”. FCT (PTDC/MED-NEU/1677/2021). Researcher.
2022 – 2025: “Interplay between innate and acquired immune response at the basis for Multiple Sclerosis cognitive deficits”. FCT (PTDC/MED-PAT/2582/2021). Researcher.
Concluded:
2022 – 2024: “Unveiling astrocyte dysfunction in absence seizures”. 2021 ISN International Career Development Grant. Principal Investigator.
2020 – 2023: “EpiEpiNet – Epileptogenesis and Epilepsy Network: from genes, synapses and circuits to pave the way for novel drugs and strategies”. H2020-WIDESPREAD-2018-2020. Researcher.
2020 – 2022: “Artificial and Biological Astrocytes in a Chronic Stress Model: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Effects”. FAPESP, Brazil (2019/26777-8). Researcher.
2018 – 2021: “Astrosomes: Artificial Astrocytes as a Novel Approach to Regulate Neuronal Communication”. FCT (PTDC/BTM-SAL/32147/2017). Principal Investigator.
2018 – 2021: “Disclosing the mechanism of action of an antiepileptic drug that operates GPCRs to find out how to develop tissue selective antiepileptic drugs”. FCT (PTDC/BTM-SAL/30933/2017). Researcher.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Neuparth-Sottomayor M, Morais TP, Good M, Sebastião AM, Di Giovanni G, Crunelli V, Vaz SH. (2025) Impairment of Spatial Working Memory but Preservation of Recognition Memory in Female Rats with Spontaneous Absence Seizures. Neurochem Res. 50(4):236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-025-04485-w
Gonçalves-Ribeiro J, Vaz SH. (2025) The IP3R2 Knockout Mice in Behavior: A Blessing or a Curse? J Neurochem. 2025 Apr;169(4):e70062. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.70062
Gonçalves-Ribeiro J, Savchak OK, Costa-Pinto S, Gomes JI, Rivas-Santisteban R, Lillo A, Sánchez Romero J, Sebastião AM, Navarrete M, Navarro G, Franco R, Vaz SH. (2024) Adenosine receptors are the on-and-off switch of astrocytic cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor effect upon synaptic plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Glia. 72(6):1096-1116. https://doi.org/10.1002/glia.24518
Costa-Pinto S, Gonçalves-Ribeiro J, Tedim-Moreira J, Socodato R, Relvas JB, Sebastião AM, Vaz SH. (2024) Communication defects with astroglia contribute to early impairments in the motor cortex plasticity of SOD1G93A mice. Neurobiol Dis. 193:106435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2024.106435
Abreu DS, Gomes JI, Ribeiro FF, Diógenes MJ, Sebastião AM, Vaz SH. (2023) Astrocytes control hippocampal synaptic plasticity through the vesicular-dependent release of D-serine. Front Cell Neurosci. 2023 Dec 7;17:1282841. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2023.1282841
Neuparth-Sottomayor M, Pina CC, Morais TP, Farinha-Ferreira M, Abreu DS, Solano F, Mouro F, Good M, Sebastião AM, Di Giovanni G, Crunelli V, Vaz SH. (2023) Cognitive comorbidities of experimental absence seizures are independent of anxiety. Neurobiol Dis; 186:106275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2023.106275
Vaz SH, Pinto S, Sebastião AM, Brites D. (2021) Astrocytes in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In: Araki T, editor. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis [Internet]. Brisbane (AU): Exon Publications; Chapter 3. https://doi.org/10.36255/exonpublications.amyotrophiclateralsclerosis.astrocytes.2021
Gomes JI, Farinha-Ferreira M, Rei N, Gonçalves-Ribeiro J, Ribeiro JA, Sebastião AM, Vaz SH. (2021) Of adenosine and the blues: The adenosinergic system in the pathophysiology and treatment of major depressive disorder. Pharmacol Res. 163:105363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2020.105363
Armada-Moreira A, Gomes JI, Pina CC, Savchak OK, Gonçalves-Ribeiro J, Rei N, Pinto S, Morais TP, Martins RS, Ribeiro FF, Sebastião AM, Crunelli V, Vaz SH. (2020) Going the Extra (Synaptic) Mile: Excitotoxicity as the Road Toward Neurodegenerative Diseases. Front Cell Neurosci. ;14:90. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2020.00090
Gonçalves-Ribeiro J, Pina CC, Sebastião AM, Vaz SH. (2019) Glutamate Transporters in Hippocampal LTD/LTP: Not Just Prevention of Excitotoxicity. Front Cell Neurosci; 13:357. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2019.00357
Ferreira DG, Temido-Ferreira M, Vicente Miranda H, Batalha VL, Coelho JE, Szegö ÉM, Marques-Morgado I, Vaz SH, Rhee JS, Schmitz M, Zerr I, Lopes LV, Outeiro TF. (2017) α-synuclein interacts with PrPC to induce cognitive impairment through mGluR5 and NMDAR2B. Nat Neurosci. 20(11):1569-1579. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4648
Jacob PF, Vaz SH, Ribeiro JA, Sebastião AM. (2014) P2Y1 receptor inhibits GABA transport through a calcium signalling-dependent mechanism in rat cortical astrocytes. Glia. 62(8):1211-26. https://doi.org/10.1002/glia.22673