Agalliu Lab

Laboratory of Dritan Agalliu, Ph.D. neuroimmunology / vascular biology / blood-brain barrier biology / neuroscience - account run by lab members

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

Good luck Aomeng Cui finishing your medical degree at Columbia University Irving Medical Center! ♥️♥️

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

A wonderful dinner celebration at Giardino 45 with members of the @AgalliuLab and Sproul lab to celebrate the successful PhD dissertation of our amazing student Aomeng Cui. She led the study that generated a novel iPSC-based neurovascular unit using the 3D MIMETAS platform.

[Columbia University @Columbia]

🎓 Mark your calendars! On May 20, NYC’s iconic @EmpireStateBldg will glow Columbia Blue to celebrate our #Columbia2026 graduates.✨

Get the details on the best spots to take grad photos with the Empire State Building: https://t.co/wUGA3p7iby

📷 Empire State Building image® by David Dini

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

On May 13, 2026, I present our work on the molecular mechanisms by which brain cells respond to recurrent infections with Group A Strep at the European Parliament in Brussels to raise awareness about post-streptococcal CNS sequelae (PANDAS/PANS). #PANDAS #PANS #EU

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

Thanks to the amazing work of Ugur Akcan @occludens we discovered that the autoantibodies targeting the BBB in schizophrenia patients, break down the BBB.

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

The study suggests that schizophrenia has an immune component supporting the role of an aberrant immune response as a trigger for a neuropsychiatric disorder. This has similarities to our findings with post-streptococcal encephalitis (PANDAS).

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

I am very excited to be part of the study entitled “High prevalence of CNS-directed autoantibodies in patients with schizophrenia” which outlines the identification of many autoantibodies, including those targeting the BBB in schizophrenia patients.

https://t.co/80ZmrfqemW

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

I’m excited to announce that this collaboration with the Konofagou laboratory to examine the cell biological mechanisms and transcriptome changes at the BBB after Focused Ultrasound with Microbubbles-mediated BBB opening is now published.
https://t.co/7OsL2qQ4PF

[PANDAS PHYSICIANS NETWORK @PANDASPPN]

Drs. Dritan Agalliu (Columbia), Madeleine Cunningham (Univ of OK), Russell Dale (Univ of Sydney, AU), & Jennifer Frankovich (Stanford) present their research & discuss whether PANS & PANDAS are best understood as autoimmune, autoinflammatory, or both. ➡️https://t.co/96nDvChqWT

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

Finally - It is official. Thank you @atvbahajournals for highlighting the amazing work of Aomeng Cui in the @AgalliuLab and Sproul labs to generate IPSC-derived human brain endothelial cells and build a 3D iPSC - derived neurovascular unit for studying neurological diseases.

[Itai Yanai @ItaiYanai]

Breakthroughs happen many times when you're able to re-imagine your project as a different form of puzzle.
NYC Postdocs: Join us on Wednesday at Columbia University for this exciting Night Science session on puzzle switching! Registration is free and we have a few spots left.

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

I thank the @atvbahajournals editors for providing a fair, unbiased and honest review of our paper unlike some other journals that either refused to review the paper or provided an unfair review process.

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

Finally, we show that the APPLon/Lon mutation, a genetic risk factor for familial Alzheimer’s disease, has distinct effects on the rBMEC physiology compared to Ab exposure suggesting that the mutation does more than affect Ab processing and generation of the toxic Ab form.

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

Second we generate a 3D hiPSC-derived neurovascular unit with rBMECs, pericytes and astrocytes using the MIMETAS platform with flow which mirrors the brain 3D architecture.

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

In this study, first we describe a new protocol to generate human iPSC-derived brain endothelial cells (rBMECs) with the correct molecular and organotypic identity and robust blood-brain barrier properties.

[Dritan Agalliu @DAgalliu]

I am very excited that our paper, a collaboration between Dr. Andrew Sproul and my laboratories, is finally published in @atvbahajournals. I want to thank expecially a very MSTP talented student, Aomeng Cui, from @AgalliuLab who led the study.

https://t.co/6u3nhGWyoH

[Agalliu Lab @AgalliuLab]

This is a beautiful paper by Jeremy Nathans group!

[Agalliu Lab @AgalliuLab]

This is a beautiful paper by Jeremy Nathans group!

[eLife - the journal @eLife]

Findings reveal how TGF-beta signalling keeps the brain’s blood vessels healthy.

Disrupting this in brain blood vessels disrupts retinal development and triggers immune cell invasion, revealing its role in maintaining vascular–immune balance in the CNS.
https://t.co/dMfxykjKyB

[Nat Rev Neurology @NatRevNeurol]

Interactive effects of blood–brain barrier breakdown and Alzheimer's disease biomarker status on cognitive decline in older adults without dementia https://t.co/f1yYyYtz41