Our research focus is the development of the mammalian neocortex, the control centre of our behaviour, thought and intellectual abilities. The neocortex is composed of hundreds of different types of neurons and glia. Decoding the mechanisms regulating the self-renewal capacity and competency of cortical progenitors is crucial to understanding how our brains develop and what happens to the brain in psychiatric disorders. This will give us vital insights into how we could develop novel strategies for treatment in these disorders.
Specifically we are currently working on three projects: transcriptional identity of multipotent or subtype-restricted progenitors; molecular controls determining self-renewing and neurogenic potentials of progenitors; and reconstruction of human neuronal structures from ES/iPS cells.
