Agenda

The cerebral cortex controls our higher cognitive capacities and helps define us as humans. Cortical development is orchestrated by neural progenitors which give rise to neurons and glia. Aberrant cortical development can result in devastating neurodevelopmental diseases. The lab of Debby Silver, who received an NINDS Javits Award (2024), aims to elucidate genetic and cellular mechanisms controlling cortical development and contributing to neurodevelopmental pathologies and brain evolution. This talk will highlight some of her recent discoveries including how spatial and temporal control of RNA impacts neural progenitor morphology and function, as well as genetic features uniquely controlling human brain development. In particular Debby Silver focus on basic questions that should interest the whole IBDM community, such as How does post-transcriptional control shape cell fate and disease? How does sub-cellular gene expression compartmentalize functions of cortical progenitors? How do genetic and cellular mechanisms shape species-specific cortical development?