Amanda Lewis

About

Amanda has been a senior scientist with LBEM since 2020 and coordinates all the post-mortem human brain related research in the lab.

Originally from Australia, her early scientific training was in biochemistry and molecular biology, obtaining a  PhD in structural biology from the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia. Her early research projects used X-ray crystallography, small angle x-ray scattering, and various biophysical techniques to investigate the structure, behaviour and molecular interactions of key proteins involved in human disease and neurodegeneration.  She joined the Stahlberg group in Basel in 2017 as a post-doctoral researcher where she developed correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) on post-mortem human brain. 

Her current research focus in LBEM uses CLEM to investigate the formation of disease pathology in neurodegenerative disease. By correlating observations in the tissue with sub-cellular and molecular level structures, she aims to understand how neurodegenerative diseases originate and spread, the molecular components involved, and the effect of the diseased cells on the surrounding brain tissue architecture.

Project coordination

Investigation of aSyn pathology in Multiple Systems Atrophy

Investigation of disease pathology in Dementia with Lewy bodies

Investigation of disease pathology in Alzheimers Disease

Ultrastructural study of the peripheral nervous system in Synucleinopathies

Biography

2020 - presentSenior Scientist, Laboratory of Biological Electron Microscopy (LBEM), Institute of Physics, EPFL, Switzerland
2021 - 2023Synapsis Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, Dementia Research Switzerland, Laboratory of Biological Electron Microscopy (LBEM), Institute of Physics, EPFL, Switzerland
2017 - 2020Postdoctoral researcher, Centre for Cellular Imaging and NanoAnalytics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2015 - 2017Postdoctoral researcher, School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Australia
2010 - 2015PhD in Structural Biology, School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Australia, with Prof. Alice Vrielink: "Structural characterization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription elongation factor Spt4/5 through RNA interactions"
2004 - 2009BSc with honours (first class) in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Australia

Publications

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Ultrastructural diversity of alpha-Synuclein pathology in the post-mortem brain of Parkinson patients: implications for Lewy Body formation

Lewis, A., Van Den Heuvel, L., Di Fabrizio, M., Burger, D., Huisman, E., Bol, J.G.J.M., van de Berg, W.D.J., Stahlberg, H.

(submitted), (2024)

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1.9 Å structure of synthetic alpha-synuclein fibrils ...

Burger, D., Kashyrina, M., Lewis, A., De Nuccio, F., Mohammed, I., de La Seiglière, H., Van Den Heuvel, L., Verchère, J., Feuillie, C., Berbon, M., Arotçarena, M.-L., Retailleau, A., Bezard, E., Laferrière, F., Loquet, A., Bousset, L., Baron, T., Lofrumento, D. D., De Giorgi, F., Stahlberg, H., Ichas, F.

(submitted), (2024)

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A versatile correlative light and electron microscopy protocol for human brain and other biological models

Shafiei, N., Stähli, D., Burger, D., Di Fabrizio, M., Van Den Heuvel, L., Daraspe, J., Böing, C., Shahmoradian, S., van de Berg, W.D.J., Genoud, C., Stahlberg, H., Lewis, A.

(submitted), (2024)

10

Distinct ultrastructural phenotypes of glial and neuronal alpha-synuclein inclusions in multiple system atrophy

Böing, C., Di Fabrizio, M., Burger, D., Bol, J.G.J., Huisman, E., Rozemuller, A.J.M., van de Berg, W.D.J., Stahlberg, H., Lewis, A.

Brain awae137(in press), (2024)

DOI: DOI

9

Rapid iPSC inclusionopathy models shed light on formation, consequence and molecular subtype of ?-synuclein inclusions

Lam, I., Ndayisaba, A., Lewis, A., Fu, Y., Sagredo, G.T., Zaccagnini, L., Sandoe, J., Sanz, R.L., …, Lindquist, S., Stevens, B., Stefanova, N, Wenning, G., Luk, K.C., Pernaute, R.S., Gomez-Esteban, J.C., Felsky, D., Kiyota, Y., Sahni, N., Yi, S.S., Chung, C.-Y., Stahlberg, H., …, Dettmer, U., Ha

Neuron 112(17), 2886-2909 (2024)

DOI: DOI

8

FTLD-TDP assemblies seed neoaggregates with subtype-specific features via a prion-like cascade

De Rossi, P., Lewis, A., Furrer, J., De Vos, L., Demeter, T., Zbinden, A., Zhong, W., Wiersma, V.I., Scialo, C., Weber, J., Guo, Z., Scaramuzza, S., Di Fabrizio, M., Böing, C., Castano-Diez, D., Al-Amoudi, A., Pérez-Berlanga, M., Lashley, T., Stahlberg, H., Polymenidou, M.

EMBO Rep. 22(12), e53877 (2021)

PubMed

7

Alterations in sub-axonal architecture between normal aging and Parkinson's diseased human brains using label-free cryogenic X-ray nanotomography

Tran, H.T., Tsai, E.H.R., Lewis, A., Moors, T., Bol, J.G.J.M., Rostami, I., Diaz, A., Joker, A.J., Guizar-Sicairos, M., Raabe, J., Stahlberg, H., van de Berg, W.D.J., Holler, M., Shahmoradian, S.

Frontiers in Neuroscience 14(570019), (2020)

PubMed

DOI: DOI

6

Lewy pathology in Parkinson's disease consists of crowded organelles and lipid membranes

Shahmoradian, S., Lewis, A., Genoud, C., Graff, A., Pérez Navarro, P., Goldie, K., Sütterlin, R., Castano-Diez, D., Ingrassia, A., Rozemuller, A.J.M., Paepe, A.D., Erny, J.Staempfli, A., Hoernschemeyer, J., Niedieker, D., El-Mashtoly, S.F., Gerwert, K., Bohrmann, B., Britschgi, M., Stahlberg, H., van de Berg, W.D.J., Lauer, M.E.

Nature Neuroscience 22, 1099-1109 (2019)

PubMed

DOI: Nature Neurosc.

5

Part 2: Coping with Biology

Benjamin Stecher. (Images:, Lewis, A., Shahmoradian, S., Stahlberg, H., )

Tomorrow Edition (an online blog by Benjamin Stecher about his journey in Parkinson's disease), (2018)

DOI: Tomorrow Edition

4

Imaging of post-mortem human brain tissue using electron and X-ray microscopy

Lewis, A., Genoud, C., Pont, M., van de Berg, W.D.J., Frank, S., Stahlberg, H., Shahmoradian, S., Al-Amoudi, A.

Current Opinion Structural Biology 58, 138-148 (2019)

PubMed

DOI: DOI

3

TDP-43 extracted from FTLD patient brains displays distinct aggregate assemblies and neurotoxic effects reflecting disease progression rates

Laferriere, F., Maniecka, Perez-Berlanga, Hruska-Plochan, Gilhespy, Hock, Wagner, Afroz, Boersema, Barmettler, Foti, Asi, Isaacs, Al-Amoudi, A., Lewis, A., Stahlberg, H., Ravits, De Giorgi, Ichas, Bezard, Picotti, P., Lashley, T., Polymenidou, M.

Nature Neuroscience 22, 65-77 (2019)

PubMed

DOI: DOI

2

Cerebral Corpora amylacea are dense membranous labyrinths containing structurally preserved cell organelles

Pérez Navarro, P., Genoud, C., Castano-Diez, D., Graff-Meyer, A., Lewis, A., de Gier, Y., Lauer, M.E., Britschgi, M., Bohrmann, B., Frank, S., Hench, J., Schweighauser, G., Rozemuller, A.J.M., van de Berg, W.D.J., Stahlberg, H., Shahmoradian, S.

Scientific Reports 8(18046), (2018)

DOI: DOI

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