Dr Harry Bulstrode
Neural stem cells in development, regeneration and cancer
Biography:
Harry Bulstrode trained as a doctor in Cambridge (BA 2003) then Oxford (BMBCh 2006). He completed neurosurgery training in Cambridge in 2021, then a fellowship in stereotaxy and deep brain stimulation at Queen Square in London. His PhD (2012-2015) was awarded for work on transcription factor control of neural stem cell identity in the Pollard lab in Edinburgh, and he held postdoc positions in the Rowitch lab in Cambridge (2017-2021) and the Briscoe lab at the London’s Francis Crick Institute (2021-2023). He holds a Wellcome Clinician Career Development Fellowship.
Research:
Harry’s research focuses on stem cells in the human brain and their microenvironment interactions. Stem cell gene expression programs are used by the most aggressive and malignant brain tumours to drive growth and invasion.
The Bulstrode Lab is working on strategies to harness the body’s normal immune cells to interfere with these processes. On the other hand, stem cell treatment offers great promise in neurodegenerative disorders, Parkinson’s Disease in particular. Current work in the lab is focusing on how to deliver cells to the right place rapidly and safely, and controlling their activity once they get there.
Specific areas of interest include:
- Zika Virus targeting of stem cells in the brain and brain tumours, and the role of microglia in regulating this.
- Cell-of-origin and malignant progenitor cell states in diffuse midline glioma H3K27M.
- Strategies to optimise the brain microenvironment for delivery of oncolytics, cell and gene therapies
- Stereotactic targeted delivery approaches
Key Publications:
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Bulstrode H, Girdler GC, ... Rowitch DH. Myeloid cell interferon secretion restricts Zika flavivirus infection of developing and malignant human neural progenitor cells. Neuron. 2022 Dec 7;110(23):3936-3951.e10. doi: 10.1016/j. neuron.2022.09.002. Epub 2022 Sep 28. PMID: 36174572; PMCID: PMC7615581.
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Bulstrode H, Johnstone E, ... Pollard SM. Elevated FOXG1 and SOX2 in glioblastoma enforces neural stem cell identity through transcriptional control of cell cycle and epigenetic regulators. Genes Dev. 2017 Apr 15;31(8):757773. doi: 10.1101/gad.293027.116. Epub 2017 May 2. PMID: 28465359; PMCID: PMC5435889.
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Marsh SE, ... Bulstrode H, Hutchinson PJ, Gaffney DJ, Hafler DA, Franklin RJM, Macosko EZ, Stevens B. Dissection of artifactual and confounding glial signatures by single-cell sequencing of mouse and human brain. Nat Neurosci. 2022 Mar;25(3):306-316. doi: 10.1038/s41593-022-01022-8. Epub 2022 Mar 8. PMID: 35260865.