Dr Merja Joensuu 🇫🇮🇦🇺

RESEARCH | S Saber, @joensuumerja (@AIBNatUQ): The lipase DDHD2 provides endogenous fatty acids to support fatty acid oxidation and energy production, proteostasis and membrane trafficking balance in neurons. nature.com/articles/s4225…

💡 Fats fuel our thoughts 🌟 Read more here: rdcu.be/eIQA0 #fattyacid #memory #learning #cognition #mitochodria #HSP #raredisease #energy #betaoxidation helsinki.fi/en/news/health…

New work in @ScienceTM reveals how a drop in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and the enzyme ELOVL2 correlate with vision decline in aged mice—and shows that intravitreal supplementation of PUFAs can reverse vision loss and rejuvenate the retina. scim.ag/42SgCQq

scienmag.com/ddhd2-supplies… #fattyacid #raredisease #phospholipase #Ddhd2 #energymetabolism #mitochondria #betaoxidation #neurodegeration #NEURON #BrainHealth #brainenergy👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Genetic ablation of the triglyceride and phospholipid lipase Ddhd2 impairs mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis in cultured neurons, despite increased glycolysis, reported Dr. @joensuumerja and team. go.nature.com/3WiPWEL

##Neurons rely on both sugars and fats for energy, with saturated fatty acids playing a crucial role in brain function and offering new therapeutic potential for metabolic #BrainDisorders. @uq_news doi.org/g95dzs medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-f…

🎉 Our discovery opens up exciting new research avenues for supporting healthy brain aging, and treating other metabolic brain disorders. 3/3 #raredisease #mitochondria #neuronalenergy #fattyacids #beta-oxidation #HSP #SPG #metabolism #lipids

💊 Loss of DDHD2 pathway causes hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP54), a childhood-onset neurodegenerative disorder. We found that a combination of activated fatty acids restored neuronal energy and function in HSP54-model neurons, identifying a potential therapy for HSP54. 2/3

🌟 Thrilled to share that my lab’s first publication is now out in @NatMetabolism. Congrats to the team 🎉 🧠 We discovered that neurons use endogenous fatty acids as energy fuel, challenging long-standing models of sugars being the exclusive energy source for neurons. 1/3

Yesterday I was honored to receive Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award #YTP25 from The Australian Institute of Policy and Science @AIPS_science. The award celebrates scientific achievements and community outreach. A big thanks to my lab & @AIBNatUQ for making this possible.

I have the best colleagues. 🥰 They celebrate your wins and spur you on when things don’t go as planned. Nice work environment is everything! @AIBNatUQ @UQ_News

Mosquito-borne viruses are on the rise and a growing concern for clinicians here in QLD and across the world. Viruses, like Japanese Encephalitis & dengue can cause brain inflammation, leading to serious neurological symptoms with currently limited treatment & vaccine options.

Things like this are so infuriating. Yes, an incredible amount of money is being spent to make articles freely available. But WAY more - over **40 BILLION DOLLARS** was spent over the same period to provide access to articles that are paywalled. The problem isn't open access - it's the entire corrupt journal system that needs to go.

Thank you to Victor, Vladimir, Merja and Yazi for their fantastic talks today at the 2024 @AusNeuroSoc Meeting in Perth. @QldBrainInst, @AnggonoLab, @joensuumerja, @MQ_DRC

⚡️If you are at #ANS2024, don’t miss our symposium on Wednesday at 10:30am. I will discuss Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia 54 and our discovery of endogenous fatty acid metabolism fueling neuronal energy, and supporting neuronal functions. ⚡️🧫🔬@AusNeuroSoc @AIBNatUQ 👇🏻

For those frustrated and hurt by @arc_gov_au processes, I'll remind of this: This paper was the cover of @NatureChemistry. ARC DP reviews rejected funding the underlying research FOUR TIMES IN A ROW. @ARC_Tracker nature.com/articles/s4155…

In 2021–22, Australia spent 1.68% of GDP on research, down from approximately 2.25% in 2008–09. This is well below the average of 2.7% of GDP for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations. 👎🏻 nature.com/articles/d4158…

@estellaan Congratulations Estella and team!

We did this crazy project where we tried to see if proteins could interact with their mirror image ligand. Seems impossible when proteins need to form 3D structures to interact. But what about if the interaction remains disordered??? nature.com/articles/s4158…

🦠 We show that productive SARS-CoV-2 infection is dynamin-dependent, while alphaviruses, influenza, and bunyaviruses, among others, can use a currently uncharacterised alternative dynamin-independent and actin-dependent endocytic pathway. 🦠

Congratulations to all co-authors and collaborators, especially Giuseppe Balistreri @LifeSciHelsinki @AIBNatUQ @QldBrainInst

We show that dynamin function at endocytic pits can be essential for infection with single-receptor viruses, while it is not essential but increases uptake and infection efficiency of multi-receptor viruses that otherwise rely on a functional actin network for infection.

Check out our latest publication: Dynamin independent endocytosis is an alternative cell entry mechanism for multiple animal viruses | PLOS Pathogens journals.plos.org/plospathogens/…