Northwest Labs B103
Abstract: In this seminar, I will provide a basic overview of the developmental mechanisms underlying the emergence of functional areas in the cerebral cortex. I will start by providing an overview of our understanding of fundamental principles of cortical development that has emerged from studies in rodents. Subsequently, I will transition to describe our studies in human, highlighting similarities and differences in progenitor cell diversity and function between mice and humans, and provide three examples of how the fundamental mechanisms of cortical development differ between humans and mice, including neuronal subtype differentiation, cortical arealization, and neural stem cell niche maintenance. Finally, I will describe our latest efforts to develop experimental models that allow us to mechanistically interrogate the roles of cell-cell interactions in brain development and neuropathology.