Melissa Bowerman

A huge congrats to our member Ali Aries for her NIHR Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Award! This will support her work leading a Roundtable on somatosensation post-stroke for the ISRRA and to develop a Patient and Lived Experience Advisory Team (PLEAT) in The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust!

Interesting new dual #NatureMedicine papers on intrathecal delivery of #SMA gene therapy: tinyurl.com/3y62k6uv and tinyurl.com/3e5z3z57 #Myoblue

Congratulations to our member Erminia Albanese for her recent publication on the introduction of whole genome sequencing as NHS standard of care for glioma patients in two neurosurgical oncology centres! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

It is that time again, time to vote for the 12th Annual Matt's Totally Biased (but less so) Top 10 Muscle Papers of the Year. Due to prohibitive shipping costs, this year’s winner will receive an e-gift card in lieu of a plaque. Voting will end Dec. 20. uab.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Thank you for including me and looking forward to contributing my expertise on spinal muscular atrophy!

Congratulations to our member Erminia Albanese for her recent publication describing A Clinical Tool to Identify Incidental Meningioma for Early Outpatient Management! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41264316/!

New #SkeletalMuscle paper: FLASH: innovative integrated enzymatic-fluorescent labeling for automated muscle fiber typing, metabolic and morphometric analysis. #Myoblue tinyurl.com/4cuhffbv

📖 45 of 2025 (10/10): Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler. What a sequel! The story takes an unexpected turn mid-way through. I found it very disturbing that although first published in 1998, its storyline is not a far stretch from what is happening in the USA at the moment. #Booksky

Privileged to attend the @ukri.org MRC Biomedicine Science Conference at the QEII Conference Centre in London today where I presented our research on Acrodysostosis Type 2, heard about exciting science and discussed public partnerships!

📖 44 of 2025 (10/10): Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler. A dystopian novel that is not too far from current world events. Beautifully written with an array of characters that display the best and worse of what humanity has to offer. Can’t wait to read the sequel! #Booksky

📖 43 of 2025 (10/10): Patriot by Alexei Navalny. More than a memoir: a powerful account of an individual that fought for a free, peaceful, happy and non-corrupt country. Knowing he dies makes it a difficult. Knowing that corruptions openly persists worldwide makes it even more difficult… #Booksky

Congratulations to our member Divya Chari who has been invited to contribute to a strategic Global Health Innovative & Advanced Treatments Workshop, organised by the @ukri.org Medical Research Council UK!

I am so proud and happy for Eve McCallion, a Senior Research Technician in my lab, that was shortlisted as a finalist in this year's Lab Awards in the category of Lab Technician of the Year (lnkd.in/dbjKFJ5d)!

📖 42 of 2025 (5/20): The Children of Men by P.D. James. The concept behind the book is interesting but the plot was slow and I did not like the protagonist. #Booksky

New episode of @uclbrainstories.bsky.social is out! Me & @smfleming.bsky.social chat to our cohost @caswell.bsky.social & Lucy Unwin about their new book “Inside your Brain”. Have a listen & buy the book for any budding young neuroscientists in your life! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

Research Assistant Vacancy at Macquarie University supporting a dementia risk reduction clinical trial, assisting with study visits, data, and participant coordination. Closing date: 30th October www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/job/research...

📖 41 of 2025 (10/10): Normal People by Sally Rooney. This book left me with a ball of mixed intense emotions in the pit of my stomach. And I had to sit with them for a while because I was not ready to say goodbye to Marianne & Connell just yet… #Booksky

📖 40 of 2025 (8/10): This is Big by Marisa Meltzer. Part biography of the founder of Weight Watchers, part reflection on the author’s relationship with her body weight, it forces you to reflect on a society that too often associates how you look to your worth. #Bluesky

Last month, our member Claire Monroy had the fanstastic opportunity to give a talk on "Neural correlates of visual processing in deaf infants" at the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (2025.neurolang.org) meeting in Washington D.C. Well done!

My son had England ice hockey trials at Lee Valley ice rink in London so I took the opportunity to walk along the canals and wild nature reserves. Very windy but no rain!

Congrats to Ian Holt, a Research Associate in our member Heidi Fuller's group, who won first prize at the Neuromuscular Study Group meeting in Stresa (Italy) for his poster on Characterising PMP22 proximal partners in a Schwann cell model of CMT1A. Well done!

Congrats to our member Divya Chari who will be chairing the 2026 UK Multiple Sclerosis Society Career Development Awards round (PhD Fellowships & Early Career Fellowships)!

Our members Sharon Owen & Heidi Fuller were at the Neuromuscular Study Group meeting in Stresa (Italy) last week where Sharon delivered an excellent flash talk presentation on using omics to identify severity-specific differences in spinal muscular atrophy!

We’re hiring! My new Gut–Brain Axis Lab at Northwestern is looking for a Research Technologist 2 to help build the lab and explore how the nervous system shapes gut health and disease. 🔬 Apply here: myhr.northwestern.edu/psp/hrnu/EMP...

This weekend I had the honour of attending the SMA UK's Big Weekend: Forty & Forward to update families on current pre-clinical research priorities in SMA. Clinical trials, exercise, newborn screening, access to education, sex & relationships were also discussed, showing there is still a lot to do!

📖 39 of 2025 (8/10): Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan. A raw and honest account of a very difficult childhood and how our societal structures and behaviours make it difficult for kids that are born randomly in such circumstances don’t get afforded the same opportunities as others. #Booksky

A huge congratulations to Katie, who has successfully passed her MPhil! Her research was aimed at understanding the role of authophagy in SMA and its potential as a therapeutic target. It was a real joy having her join our lab and we already miss her!

And here goes the start of another ice hockey season in the UK. Well done to my son’s team who started the season with a win! He played an excellent game and was awarded player of the match!

📖38 of 2025 (5/10): The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner. Easy to read but not really a nail-biting page turner… #Booksky

💥OUR LAB IS HIRING!!💥 We are hiring a research assistant/lab manager to assist with managing our axolotl colony and enabling some kick-ass science! Looking for high levels of organization, collaboration, problem solving and curiosity. Application link: tinyurl.com/3tpvphpm #SciJob #JobAlert

📣Job Opportunity: A postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) position that will focus on exploring the role of macrophages during salivary gland development in our Emmerson Lab. Applications close 09 October 2025. Further information: edin.ac/42uTVlc

Come work with us @keeleuniversity.bsky.social ! We are recruiting a Research Assistant to work on an exciting project aimed at defining the role of brown adipose tissues in spinal muscular atrophy! Further details can be found here: ce0639li.webitrent.com/ce0639li_web...

📖 37 of 2025 (10/10): Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Absolutely delightful read! Every woman in this book is different yet fully developed and the whole thing is brought together in the most heartwarming way. #Booksky

Excited to be presenting our research on the potential of muscle-specific extracellular vesicles as SMA biomarkers. In collaboration with Stephanie Duguez @florage.bsky.social & funded by @afm-telethon.bsky.social !

Well done to our member Heidi Fuller who was an invited speaker at the Ottawa NMD 2025 meeting where she presented thoughts on precision medicine for SMA.

One of my favourite things about the Ottawa NMD meeting is reconnecting with friends and colleagues. Great to come back to where my research career started and hang out with my Ph.D. supervisor @kotharylab.bsky.social !

🚨 Calling researchers, students, technicians in cognition 🚨 We’re running a 10-min anonymous survey on how animal cognition is defined and studied across disciplines (from ecology, ethology, psychology, neurology, etc). 🧠✨ Scan the QR code & share widely #AnimalCognition #ResearchSurvey #Science

🚨 We're hiring, please share! The FMI seeks a tenure-track Group Leader (Assistant Prof) in Structural Biology 🔬 Innovative scientists in genome regulation, RNA metabolism, or protein homeostasis—especially using cutting-edge approaches—apply now at www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

After the Pre-Meeting, the official @asbmr.bsky.social Annual Meeting in Seattle begins! Our poster was selected for the plenary session. Come see & discuss our results showing sex-specific effects of an Acrodysostosis Type 2 causing mutation!

It’s #WhiteSneaker day @asbmr.bsky.social Annual Meeting in Seattle. Ready to raise awareness about bone health & Acrodysostosis Type 2!

BIG news for Spinal Muscular Atrophy in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Newborn screening for #SMA has just been announced: smauk.org.uk/news/the-sco...

Public comment now open for the new NIH 2025 Muscular Dystrophy Coordinating Committee's (MDCC) Action Plan. Happy to be a part of this group. Comment here: grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Proud PI moment as we present our characterisation of bone defects in our unique Acrodysostosis Type 2 mouse model for the first time at the @asbmr.bsky.social Pre-Meeting Symposium on Rare Bone diseases!

UAB and Children's of AL is looking for a new Division Director of Pediatric Neurology (come be one of my bosses!). We are consistently in the top 30 nationwide in Pediatric Neurology and have excellent subspecialties in: Epilepsy, Autism, and NMDs. Apply: tinyurl.com/y8d8duve

Very excited to be attending my very first @asbmr.bsky.social annual meeting in Seattle! #whitesneakers at the ready to raise awareness of bone health and Acrodysostosis Type 2!

My colleague & I are looking for a motivated postdoc to apply for a Post Doctoral & Brain Entry Fellowship to study cognition in babies with spinal muscular atrophy. Contact me if interested. guarantorsofbrain.org/grants/post-...

Assistant Prof post in bacterial genomics @unibirmingham.bsky.social Come and join us!! @imibirmingham.bsky.social www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOO184/a...