Title: Human Neurodevelopment Symposium: from stem cells to tissue, new insights into human neurodevelopment and disorders.

The Autumn MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders Symposium 2023 took place from 04 to 05 September 2023 at the Francis Crick Institute, London. The Symposium brought together experts to discuss and share new insights into human neurodevelopment and disorders, focusing on tissue and cell biology. The Symposium also showcased the expertise of our staff and postgraduate students. Throughout the two days of the Symposium, clinicians and researchers covered four key themes: Evolution of human neurodevelopment and implications for understanding neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), Foetal tissue and human cellular models for NDD, Cellular reprogramming and therapeutic potential, and rare disorders.

The invited speakers were Professor Adrian Harwood (Cardiff University), Dr Alexandre Baffet (Institut Curie), Dr Andrea Serio (Francis Crick Institute), Dr Cécile Charrier (Biology Institute of the ENS (IBENS), Professor Marisa Karow (University of Erlangen–Nuremberg ), Dr Silvia Cappello (The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science), Professor Tomasz Nowakowski (University of California), Dr Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu (Imperial College London) and Victor Borrell (Instituto de Neurociencias)  and Dr Madeline A. Lancaster (University of Cambridge).

The Symposium also allowed early-career researchers to present their work through selected short talks and poster presentations. Prizes were also awarded for the best poster presentation to:

• Clarisse Brunet (best poster winner, Institut Curie, France) titled ‘Cell fate decisions in the human developing neocortex’.
• Youran Shi (a runner-up for the poster King’s College London) titled ‘Deconstructing in vitro glia-to-neuron reprogramming by proneural transcription factors’.

A hybrid public engagement session titled ‘Exploring the dimensions of research into the developing human brain’ was integrated into the Symposium. The session featured guest panellists: Dr Tom Arichi (King’s College London), Dr Nita Solanky (University College London) and Dr Hélène Doerflinger (University of Cambridge) with a panel discussion and questions from the audience. 

The Symposium was sponsored by bit.bio.