[Seminar] Professor Genevieve Konopka: Cell type-specific transcriptional networks in brain evolution and disease

Abstract:

"It has been hypothesized that one of the consequences of the highly evolved cognitive capacity of the human brain is the development of increased vulnerability to cognitive disorders. Technical breakthroughs in genomics have allowed us to begin to identify genetic and molecular signatures in the central nervous system that distinguish humans from non-human primates. We have identified novel human-specific patterns of gene expression and regulation in the neocortex. These data suggest that the human brain has undergone rapid modifications of gene expression patterns to support our enhanced cognitive abilities. Moreover, using a cell-type specific approach, we have surprisingly uncovered accelerated changes in oligodendrocytes that are relevant to schizophrenia pathophysiology. Using single-cell approaches including snRNA-seq and snATAC-seq across brain tissue from multiple primate species, we have also uncovered human-specific patterns of gene expression in both oligodendrocytes and neurons. These new data have uncovered molecular pathways that might be involved in human disorders of cognition."

You can join the seminar via ZOOM (meeting ID: 982 6091 5981).