Colloquium
Time: 11:00am, May 18, 2026
Venue: Lecture Hall, Shanghai Brain Center
Speaker: Prof. Vladimir Parpura
International Translational Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
Host：Dr. Goran Angelovski
Biography:
Vladimir Parpura, MD, PhD, MAE, holds both a medical degree, awarded from the University of Zagreb in Croatia in 1989, and a doctorate, received in Neuroscience and Zoology from Iowa State University in 1993. He held faculty appointments at the Department of Zoology and Genetics, Iowa State University; the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, University of California Riverside; the Department of Biotechnology, University of Rijeka, Croatia and the Department of Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, U.S.A. He is presently a Distinguished Professor and Director of the International Translational Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China; and a Cheung Kong Scholar and Kun Peng Action Expert. He has been elected/inducted as a Member of Academia Europaea (MAE) in 2012, of Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives in 2016, a corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MSASA) as well as a Fellow of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) both in 2017, and a Fellow of the American Physiological Society (FAPS) in 2020. He received the 2017-2018 McNulty Civitan Scientist Award given by The UAB Civitan International Research Center and The Chesapeake District of Civitan International. Parpura was the 25th President (2017-2019 term) of the American Society for Neurochemistry. He is serving as Treasurer of the International Society for Neurochemistry (2025-2029 term). In 2019, Parpura was awarded the Honorary Professor title at the University of Rijeka, Croatia and the journal Neurochemical Research had a special issue in October of 2021 in his honor. In 2025, Parpura received the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2013, his laboratory ranked 3rd in the world in nanotechnology. Since 2021, he has ranked number 2 in the world in astrocyte expertise by expertscape.com. He discovered the astrocyte-neuron glutamate-mediated signaling pathway; i.e., gliotransmission. This led to the concept of the tripartite synapse whereby astrocytes, by releasing a gliotransmitter, can modulate synaptic transmission and plasticity. Subsequently, gliotransmission has proven to be important for biological processes, including sleep, respiration, learning, memory, gut motility and secretion. Parpura has been interfacing neuroscience with nanoscience/nanotechnology, neurochemistry, synthetic biology and biomedical engineering.
https://yjsfwpt.zcmu.edu.cn/push/briefIntroduction?gh=2023D001
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ekvKLtMAAAAJ
https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Parpura_Vladimir
https://www.sazu.si/en/members/vladimir-parpura
Abstract:
Introduction: Glioblastomas (GBMs) are the most common primary malignant brain tumors in adults. They are one of the deadliest cancers, having a median survival of 14 months despite of standard of care (surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy with temozolomide). GBMs are characterized by extensive dispersal throughout the brain, indicative of their highly invasive nature. Identifying novel treatments that stop/attenuate the progression of GBMs will be life altering. We propose a novel hypothesis that human GBM invasiveness is promoted by regulated exocytotic secretion of glutamate (Glu), a transmitter known to stimulate GBM cell motility and invasion. GBM invasiveness can be stimulated by bradykinin (BK), a signaling molecule generated at the interface between the brain parenchyma and vasculature. BK activates B2 receptors (B2Rs).
Methods: BK-evoked exocytosis were blocked in B2R high- expressing PDX GBM cells by icatibant and via transcriptional silencing of VAMP2. The effects were studied in both ex vivo and in vivo settings: A) Real-time visualization of human PDX GBM cell invasion into the normal brain parenchyma was examined in mouse acute slice preparations using laser scanning confocal microscopy. B) In mice bearing implanted PDXs, we will assess animal survival, tumor volume and GBM cells invasiveness.
Results and discussion: Our data demonstrate that B2Rs are abundantly expressed on a subset of human GBMs. Our data further reveal that B2R activation in GBM cells causes exocytotic/vesicular glutamate release from human GBM patient-derived xenolines/xenografts (PDX), the best pre-clinical model of GBM. Blocking this pathway increasers survival time and decreases the GBM tumor progression in vivo. We posit that BK-evoked vesicular release of Glu could be a common mechanism of Glu release from GBMs and a therapeutic target to reduce invasiveness. The data generated is highly relevant for the development of adjuvant treatments for people suffering from this cancer.
Research support: VP’s work is supported by the Cheung Kong (Yangtze River) Scholar Program, Ministry of Education, China and by the Kun Peng Action of Zhejiang Province, China.