Research Bio

As an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl at UCLA investigating the neurodegenerative mechanisms of multiple sclerosis, I developed an interest in the role of glial cells in nervous system diseases. Through my particular interest in astrocytes, I was selected for the PKU-UCLA Joint Research Institute Scholarship to conduct research abroad at Peking University, where I studied astrocyte biology in the context of traumatic brain injuries under the guidance of Dr. Lina Li. With a desire to learn systems neuroscience approaches in addition to cellular and molecular techniques, I then pursued postgraduate research in the lab of Dr. Kira Poskanzer at UCSF. There, I worked on several projects that aimed to understand how astrocytes respond to neuromodulatory systems to regulate neural circuits underlying distinct cortical states. For my graduate research in the lab of Dr. Alicia Che at Yale, I aim to combine molecular and systems methodologies to understand how astrocyte-interneuron dynamics contribute to the circuitopathy underlying Alzheimer's disease.

Peer-reviewed Publications

Tse V. Astrocytic Control of Glutamate Spillover and Extrasynaptic NMDA Receptor Activation: Implications for Neurodegenerative Disorders. J Neurosci. 2024 May 22;44(21):e0083242024. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0083-24.2024. PMID: 38777612.

Cahill MK, Collard M, Tse V, Reitman ME, Etchenique R, Kirst C, Poskanzer KE. Network-level encoding of local neurotransmitters in cortical astrocytes. Nature. 2024 May;629(8010):146-153. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07311-5. Epub 2024 Apr 17. Erratum in: Nature. 2024 May 13;: PMID: 38632406; PMCID: PMC11062919.

Reitman ME, Tse V, Mi X, Willoughby DD, Peinado A, Aivazidis A, Myagmar BE, Simpson PC, Bayraktar OA, Yu G, Poskanzer KE. Norepinephrine links astrocytic activity to regulation of cortical state. Nat Neurosci. 2023 Mar 30. doi: 10.1038/s41593-023-01284-w. PMID: 36997759.

Pittolo S, Yokoyama S, Willoughby DD, Taylor CR, Reitman ME, Tse V, Wu Z, Etchenique R, Li Y, Poskanzer KE. Dopamine activates astrocytes in prefrontal cortex via α1-adrenergic receptors. Cell Rep. 2022 Sep 27;40(13):111426. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111426. PMID: 36170823; PMCID: PMC9555850.

Itoh Y, Golden LC, Itoh N, Matsukawa MA, Ren E, Tse V, Arnold AP, Voskuhl RR. The X-linked histone demethylase Kdm6a in CD4+ T lymphocytes modulates autoimmunity. J Clin Invest. 2019 Aug 12;129(9):3852-3863. doi: 10.1172/JCI126250. PMID: 31403472; PMCID: PMC6715385.

Voskuhl RR, Itoh N, Tassoni A, Matsukawa MA, Ren E, Tse V, Jang E, Suen TT, Itoh Y. Gene expression in oligodendrocytes during remyelination reveals cholesterol homeostasis as a therapeutic target in multiple sclerosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 May 14;116(20):10130-10139. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1821306116. Epub 2019 Apr 30. PMID: 31040210; PMCID: PMC6525478.

Pre-print Publications

Cahill MK, Collard M, Tse V, Reitman ME, Etchenique R, Kirst C, Poskanzer KE. Network-level encoding of local neurotransmitters in cortical astrocytes. bioRxiv. 2023 December 04. doi: 10.1101/2023.12.01.568932.

Now published in Nature (Cahill et al., 2024)

Vaidyanathan TV, Tse V, Lim EM, Poskanzer KE. Astrocytic Gi-GPCR activation enhances stimulus-evoked extracellular glutamate. bioRxiv. 2022 May 13. doi: 10.1101/2022.05.12.491656.

Itoh N, Meyer CE, Itoh Y, Suen TT, Jang E, Tse V, MacKenzie-Graham A, Voskuhl RR. Mind the Gap: Estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) in astrocytes is a therapeutic target to prevent cognitive problems at menopause. Research Square. 2021 Sep 29. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-902638/v1.

Now published in Nature Communications (Itoh et al., 2023)