Biology

Prof. Denis Jabaudon
Director, Department of Basic Neuroscience at the University of Geneva, Switzerland

Abstract:

During brain development, neurons are born in specialized niches and migrate to target regions where they assemble to form the circuits that underlie mammalian behaviour. During their journey, neurons follow cell-intrinsic, genetic programs transmitted by their mother cells but also environmental cues, which together drive their maturation. Here, focusing on the neocortex, arguably the most elaborate area of our brains, I will discuss recent findings from our laboratory in which we untangle and manipulate the programs at play in progenitors and their daughter neurons to better understand emergence of diversity in the developing brain.