|
|
| Name |
Arlotta, Paola |
| Location
|
Harvard University |
| Primary Field
|
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience |
|
|
 Research Interests
|
|
The function of the brain relies on the integration into functional circuits of an outstanding diversity of cell types. Generation and maintenance of cell diversity, correct wiring into neural circuits, and orchestrated interaction of neurons and glia are critical, and when disrupted, lead to neurological disease. Focusing on the developing cerebral cortex, my lab has discovered some of the first molecular programs controlling the fate specification of cortical excitatory neuron classes and shown that cell identity can be reprogrammed from within the developing brain, even in permanently postmitotic neurons. We have shown that proper establishment of pyramidal neuron diversity is critical to guide major developmental decisions such as the establishment of cell type-specific connectivity with inhibitory neurons, the emergence of unique patterns of myelination along the axons of different neuron classes, and the layer-specific positioning of microglia within cortical circuits. This work in the mouse embryo has motivated our more recent exploration of the mechanisms that drive healthy and pathological development of the human cerebral cortex. We have generated stem cell-derived human cortical organoids of unprecedented complexity and reproducibility, and gained fundamental new understanding of previously inaccessible mechanisms of human brain formation and of poorly understood neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric diseases. |
|
|
|