Queensland Brain Institute

Dr Liviu Bodea

Research Fellow
Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research
+61 7 334 66326
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Researcher biography

Dr. Liviu-Gabriel Bodea leads the Microglia in Health and Disease Research Team at the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, within the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), the University of Queensland (UQ).

Dr. Bodea is a brain cell biologist focusing on the functional crosstalk between microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain parenchyma, and the surrounding cell types in health and disease. Dr. Bodea has significant experience in generating and analysing both in vivo and in vitro models (from stable cell lines and primary cultures to novel genetically modified mice) in combination with various biochemical and molecular techniques, ranging from high-end confocal imaging to functional pathway analysis and CRISPR gene editing.

Currently, Dr. Bodea is a Dementia Australia Research Foundation Mid-Career Fellow. He was the recipient of a University of Queensland Research Stimulus Fellowship (2022) and the Peter Hilton Early Career Fellowship in Ageing Dementia Research (2014-2019) under the mentorship of Prof. Jürgen Götz, a world-renowned leader in Alzheimer's disease. Liviu Bodea was awarded his Dr.rer.nat. (PhD) title from the University of Bonn, Germany (2014), working in the group of Prof. Harald Neumann, a world-renowned expert in microglial physiology, which identified for the first time the role of the microglial receptor TREM2 in the removal of apoptotic material (JEM 2005).

Dr. Bodea has extensive experience in guiding both under- and post-graduate students into the wonders of scientific research :)

Complete List of Published Work: PubMed Bibliography

Research Impact

Dr. Liviu-Gabriel Bodea is a Dementia Australia Research Foundation Mid-Career Fellow (2022-2024). In 2021, Expertscape recognised Dr. Bodea as one of the top-rated researchers in the field of tauopathy, placing him in the top 0.8% of >142k published authors worldwide on tauopathies within the last 10 years. Dr. Bodea has authored 10 co-/first/ /last/corresponding and 11 contributing author publications (with a total of >2,400 cites, h-index 13 @Google Scholar(Jun2022); FWCI 4.05 @SciVal (Jun2022)), including three Highly Cited Publications indexed by Web of Science (Cell 2013; Nature Reviews Neurology 2018; Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2018).

Dr. Bodea's work led to the identification of the microglial TYROBP adaptor protein as one of the top causal factors of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (Cell 2013, co-first author, >1400 cites) and revealed the complement-induced neurodegeneration of dopaminergic neurons following peripheral immune stimulation (Journal of Neuroscience 2014, first author). More recently, he coordinated studies that centred on the effect of tau (molecule relevant for Alzheimer's disease) on proteins synthesis (EMBO J 2019; Acta Neuropathologica Communications 2021), the use of artificial amino acids and de novo proteome analysis for the investigation of memory (eLife 2020), and the role of neuronal PTEN enzyme in synaptic engulfment by microglia (Acta Neuropathologica 2020). In addition, he published reviews in Nature Reviews Neurology (2018), Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2018), Journal of Neurochemistry (2017), and Brain Research Bulletin (2021).

Dr. Bodea was a grant reviewer for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), MS Research Australia, and Alzheimer's Australia Dementia Research Foundation. He is the Lead Guest Editor for a Special Research Topic in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience (topic: The Neuron-Glia Crosstalk and Beyond) and is a member of the Reviewer Board for Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. In addition, Dr. Bodea acts as an ad-hoc reviewer for different top-tier publications, ranging from Science to Frontiers in Immunology.

Dr. Bodea has mentored and supervised the daily activity of PhD students (2 completed, 1 current), Honours students (3 completed, 1 current), research assistants, and many other undergraduate and volunteer students. Both of his completed PhD students received awards (e.g., the Alistair Rushworth Fellowship, Merk-QBI Best Student Publication Award), finished with an average of 5 publications and landed post-doctoral positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) and New York University (NYU, USA). In addition, all the completed Honours students were awarded First Class distinctions.

Publications

Journal Articles (22)
Conference Papers (6)

Journal Articles

Middeldorp, Jinte, Min, Rogier, Benetatos, Joseph and Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel (2023). Editorial: The neuron-glia crosstalk and beyond. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 17. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2023.1159597
Milner, Mark T., Lawrence, Grace M. E. P., Holley, Caroline L., Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Götz, Jürgen, Burgener, Sabrina S. and Schroder, Kate (2022). Isolation and culture of pure adult mouse microglia and astrocytes for in vitro characterization and analyses. STAR Protocols, 3 (2) 101295, 1-16. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101295
Leinenga, Gerhard, Bodea, Liviu‐Gabriel, Schröder, Jan, Sun, Giuzhi, Zhou, Yichen, Song, Jae, Grubman, Alexandra, Polo, Jose M. and Götz, Jürgen (2022). Transcriptional signature in microglia isolated from an Alzheimer's disease mouse model treated with scanning ultrasound. Bioengineering & Translational Medicine, 8 (1) e10329. doi: 10.1002/btm2.10329
Rasmussen, Jay, Ewing, Adam D., Bodea, Liviu‐Gabriel, Bodea, Gabriela O., Gearing, Marla and Faulkner, Geoffrey J. (2021). An early proinflammatory transcriptional response to tau pathology is age‐specific and foreshadows reduced tau burden. Brain Pathology, 32 (3) e13018, e13018. doi: 10.1111/bpa.13018
Evans, Harrison Tudor, Taylor, Deonne, Kneynsberg, Andrew, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel and Götz, Jürgen (2021). Altered ribosomal function and protein synthesis caused by tau. Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 9 (1) 110, 110. doi: 10.1186/s40478-021-01208-4
Evans, Harrison Tudor, Blackmore, Daniel, Goetz, Juergen and Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel (2021). De novo proteomic methods for examining the molecular mechanisms underpinning long-term memory. Brain Research Bulletin, 169, 94-103. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2020.12.015
Bajracharya, Rinie, Brici, David, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Janowicz, Phillip W., Götz, Jürgen and Nisbet, Rebecca M. (2021). Tau antibody isotype induces differential effects following passive immunisation of tau transgenic mice. Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 9 (1) 42, 1-13. doi: 10.1186/s40478-021-01147-0
Leinenga, Gerhard, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Koh, Wee Kiat, Nisbet, Rebecca M. and Götz, Jürgen (2020). Delivery of antibodies into the brain using focused scanning ultrasound. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2020 (161) e61372, 1-13. doi: 10.3791/61372
Benetatos, Joseph, Bennett, Rachel E., Evans, Harrison T., Ellis, Sevannah A., Hyman, Bradley T., Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel and Götz, Jürgen (2020). PTEN activation contributes to neuronal and synaptic engulfment by microglia in tauopathy. Acta Neuropathologica, 140 (1), 7-24. doi: 10.1007/s00401-020-02151-9
Evans, Harrison Tudor, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel and Götz, Jürgen (2020). Cell-specific non-canonical amino acid labelling identifies changes in the de novo proteome during memory formation. eLife, 9 e52990, e52990. doi: 10.7554/elife.52990
Evans, Harrison Tudor, Benetatos, Joseph, van Roijen, Marloes, Bodea, Liviu‐Gabriel and Götz, Jürgen (2019). Decreased synthesis of ribosomal proteins in tauopathy revealed by non‐canonical amino acid labelling. The EMBO Journal, 38 (13) e101174, e101174. doi: 10.15252/embj.2018101174
Linnartz-Gerlach, Bettina, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Klaus, Christine, Ginolhac, Aurélien, Halder, Rashi, Sinkkonen, Lasse, Walter, Jochen, Colonna, Marco and Neumann, Harald (2019). TREM2 triggers microglial density and age-related neuronal loss. GLIA, 67 (3) glia.23563, 539-550. doi: 10.1002/glia.23563
Götz, Jürgen, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel and Goedert, Michel (2018). Rodent models for Alzheimer disease. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19 (10), 583-598. doi: 10.1038/s41583-018-0054-8
Polanco, Juan Carlos, Li, Chuanzhou, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Martinez-Marmol, Ramon, Meunier, Frederic A and Götz, Jürgen (2017). Amyloid-β and tau complexity - towards improved biomarkers and targeted therapies. Nature reviews. Neurology, 14 (1), 22-40. doi: 10.1038/nrneurol.2017.162
Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Evans, Harrison Tudor, Van der Jeugd, Ann, Ittner, Lars M., Delerue, Fabien, Kril, Jillian, Halliday, Glenda, Hodges, John, Kiernan, Mathew C. and Goetz, Juergen (2017). Accelerated aging exacerbates a pre-existing pathology in a tau transgenic mouse model. Aging Cell, 16 (2), 377-386. doi: 10.1111/acel.12565
Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Eckert, Anne, Ittner, Lars Matthias, Piguet, Olivier and Götz, Juergen (2016). Tau physiology and pathomechanisms in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Journal of Neurochemistry, 138 (S1), 71-94. doi: 10.1111/jnc.13600
Capurro, Alberto, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Schaefer, Patrick, Luthi-Carter, Ruth and Perreau, Victoria M. (2015). Computational deconvolution of genome wide expression data from Parkinson's and Huntington's disease brain tissues using population-specific expression analysis. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8 (441) 441, 1-12. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00441
Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Wang, Yiner, Linnartz-Gerlach, Bettina, Kopatz, Jens, Sinkkonen, Lasse, Musgrove, Ruth, Kaoma, Tony, Muller, Arnaud, Vallar, Laurent, Di Monte, Donato A., Balling, Rudi and Neumann, Harald (2014). Neurodegeneration by activation of the microglial complement-phagosome pathway. Journal of Neuroscience, 34 (25), 8546-8556. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5002-13.2014
Cojocaru, Sabina, Radu, Mihaela, Bodea, Liviu G., Cimpeanu, Mirela M., Gheorghita, Gogu, Stoian, Gheorghe and Dinischiotu, Anca (2013). Water Soluble Pleurotus ostreatus Polysaccharide Down-Regulates the Expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in Caco-2 Cells. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, 41 (2), 553-559. doi: 10.15835/nbha4129305
Kopatz, Jens, Beutner, Clara, Welle, Kristian, Bodea, Liviu G., Reinhardt, Julia, Claude, Janine, Linnartz-Gerlach, Bettina and Neumann, Harald (2013). Siglec-h on activated microglia for recognition and engulfment of glioma cells. GLIA, 61 (7), 1122-1133. doi: 10.1002/glia.22501
Zhang, Bin, Gaiteri, Chris, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Wang, Zhi, McElwee, Joshua, Podtelezhnikov, Alexei A., Zhang, Chunsheng, Xie, Tao, Tran, Linh, Dobrin, Radu, Fluder, Eugene, Clurman, Bruce, Melquist, Stacey, Narayanan, Manikandan, Suver, Christine, Shah, Hardik, Mahajan, Milind, Gillis, Tammy, Mysore, Jayalakshmi, MacDonald, Marcy E., Lamb, John R., Bennett, David A., Molony, Cliona, Stone, David J., Gudnason, Vilmundur, Myers, Amanda J., Schadt, Eric E., Neumann, Harald, Zhu, Jun and Emilsson, Valur (2013). Integrated systems approach identifies genetic nodes and networks in late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Cell, 153 (3), 707-720. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.03.030
Linnartz, Bettina, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel and Neumann, Harald (2012). Microglial carbohydrate-binding receptors for neural repair. Cell and Tissue Research, 349 (1), 215-227. doi: 10.1007/s00441-012-1342-7

Conference Papers

Bodea, L., Linnartz-Gerlach, B., Kopatz, J., Sinkkonen, L., Balling, R. and Neumann, H. (2015). Neurodegeneration by a microglial complement-phagosome pathway. 12th European Meeting on Glial Cell Function in Health and Disease, Bilbao, Spain, Jul 15-18, 2015. Hoboken, United States: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/glia.22870
Bodea, L. -G., Colonna, M. and Neumann, H. (2013). Lack of Microglial Trem2 Receptor Increases Susceptibility to Dopaminergic Degeneration Triggered by Systemic Inflammation. 11th European Meeting on Glial Cell Function in Health and Disease, Berlin Germany, Jul 03-06, 2013. HOBOKEN: WILEY-BLACKWELL.
Neumann, H., Linnartz, B. and Bodea, L. (2011). Microglial Clearance in Neurodegenerative Diseases. WILEY-BLACKWELL.
Bodea, L. G., Linnartz, B., Colonna, M. and Neumann, H. (2011). Microglial Trem2 Receptor Has a Protective Role for the Nigrostriatal System. WILEY-BLACKWELL.
Linnartz, B., Bodea, L. G., Tenner, A. and Neumann, H. (2011). Desialylation of Neuronal Processes Leads to Complement Opsonization and Complement Receptor-3 Dependent Removal by Microglia. WILEY-BLACKWELL.
Bodea, L. G., Dannenberg, H., Colonna, M. and Neumann, H. (2009). Regulation of Dap12 Associated Receptors in Microglia by Systemic Inflammatory Stimuli. 9th European Meeting on Glial Cells in Health and Disease, Paris France, Sep 08-12, 2009. WILEY-LISS.