Our Research

Modeling glial contribution to neurological disease

Astrocytes and oligodendrocytes are the most abundant cell types in the human brain. How do these cells influence neurodevelopmental diseases such as autism? Our goal here is to use a number of loss of function hPSC lines and induce the differentiation towards the glial lineage and develop minimalist multi-culture systems to ask fundamental questions about neuron and glia interactions. How do astrocytes promote neuronal maturation? How does inflammation affect brain circuitry?

Understanding mechanisms of neurogenesis and glial competency

The major cell types of the brain are all derived from neural stem cells. Neural stem cells are interesting because during development, these cells undergo waves of differentiation starting with neurons first then glia (astrocytes and oligodendrocytes) later. How these cells coordinate the massive diversity of neuronal and glial subtypes is unknown. We are interested in understanding what factors are critical in establishing and maintaining cell fate switches. How diversity is generated (is it cell autonomous or non-autonomous?) and what regulates brain structure.

Collaborators:

Kenny Campbell, Ph.D. (Professor in Developmental Biology)

Is there a link between Congenital Heart Defects and Neurodevelopmental Disorder?

Nearly 50% of children who undergo life saving heart surgery develop a form of neurodevelopmental disorder. It is unclear whether the environment or genetics plays a role and we are using the differentiation of hPSCs into brain and heart organoids to investigate this question.

Collaborators:

Mingxia Gu M.D., Ph.D. (Assistant Professor in CuSTOM)

David Winlaw M.D. (Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Professor in Department of Surgery)