Alexei Mikhailov is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in tauopathies and neurodegenerative diseases at the European Neuroscience Research Center in Munich. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and developing novel therapeutic strategies through cellular and molecular biology approaches.
- Institution: European Neuroscience Research Center
- Location: Munich, Germany
- Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
- Mentor: Collaboration with Werner Wenning research group
- Tau protein pathology in 4R-tauopathies including PSP
- Mechanisms of tau aggregation and propagation
- Cryo-EM structural analysis of tau filaments
- iPSC-based models of tauopathy
- Biomarker development for PSP
- Mikhailov A, et al. Cryo-EM structure of PSP-derived tau filaments reveals strain-specific features (Nature Neuroscience, 2025) — High-resolution structural analysis of patient-derived tau aggregates revealing distinct filament conformations in PSP
- Mikhailov A, et al. Tau oligomer toxicity in PSP patient-derived neurons (Acta Neuropathol. Commun., 2024) — iPSC-derived neurons from PSP patients used to characterize toxic tau oligomer species and their mechanism of neurotoxicity
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Mikhailov A, et al. Seeding activity of PSP brain extracts in cellular models (Brain, 2023) — Transcellular propagation assays demonstrating strain-dependent seeding activity of PSP-derived tissue extracts
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Mikhailov A, et al. CSF tau species in PSP: correlation with disease progression (Movement Disorders, 2023) — Longitudinal analysis of CSF tau species as progression biomarkers in PSP cohorts
- Mikhailov A, et al. Molecular mechanisms of tau propagation in 4R-tauopathies (Journal of Neuroscience, 2022) — Mechanistic studies of cell-to-cell tau transfer in model systems
Dr. Mikhailov's research investigates the fundamental mechanisms of tau aggregation:
- Oligomer formation: Characterization of toxic tau oligomers using iPSC-derived neurons
- Fibril nucleation: Understanding how tau fibrils begin to form in 4R-tauopathies
- Strain diversity: Analysis of distinct tau strains in PSP using cryo-EM
- Post-translational modifications: Role of phosphorylation and acetylation in tau pathology
A key focus involves understanding how pathological tau spreads:
- Prion-like spreading: Evidence for templated propagation in cellular models
- Neural circuits: Tracking tau spread via neuronal connections
- Cell-to-cell transfer: Mechanisms of intercellular tau transfer
- Seeding activity: Characterizing tau seeds in patient-derived samples
Recent work has advanced the structural understanding of PSP tau:
- Cryo-EM analysis of tau filaments isolated from PSP patient brain tissue
- Comparison of filament conformations across PSP subtypes
- Identification of strain-specific features distinguishing PSP from other tauopathies
- Mikhailov A, et al. Cryo-EM structure of PSP-derived tau filaments reveals strain-specific features. Nature Neuroscience. 2025;
- Mikhailov A, et al. Tau oligomer toxicity in PSP neurons. Acta Neuropathologica Communications. 2024;12(1):45
- Mikhailov A, et al. Seeding activity of PSP brain extracts. Brain. 2023;146(8):3212-3225
- Mikhailov A, et al. CSF tau species in PSP: Correlation with disease progression. Movement Disorders. 2023;38(4):612-623
- Mikhailov A, et al. Molecular mechanisms of tau propagation. Journal of Neuroscience. 2022;42(15):3145-3158
- Werner Wenning research group (Innsbruck, Austria)
- International PSP Consortium
- European Tau Consortium
- Cryo-EM facility, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry