Novel mechanisms of neurogenesis and neural repair


Please, note that this talk is accessible only to members of the University of Oxford. Please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pdu2rqDwsG93MYXuHFgpeHYN357ItVUpD using an Oxford email address. The day of the talk, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the meeting. The platform will be Zoom. After the talk, at 3.30pm, everyone is welcome to join for a virtual "pub chat" with Prof. Magdalena Götz. Details on how to join the talk and the informal "pub chat" will be released via our mailing list (info on how to subscribe on https://cortexclub.com)

We study the mechanisms of neurogenesis utilizing some of them also for neuronal repair. I will first speak about novel players in neurogenesis during development, highlighting a novel centrosome protein (Akna, Camargo et al., Nature 2019). This work prompted us to explore centrosome composition at a comprehensive level. I will present unpublished data about human neural cells centrosome proteome highlighting the profound differences in centrosome composition compared to other cell types. I will show that this centrosome proteome unravels novel candidates for neurodevelopmental disease, especially those involved in misplacement of neurons, periventricular heterotopia. I will talk about a generally expressed protein that is only localized at the centrosome in neural cells and show data about disease modelling. From there I will proceed to present unpublished work on a new intrinsic disordered protein with profound effects on neural development acting as nuclear master regulator of liquid phase transition – regulating the size and function of several membrane-less nuclear compartments simultaneously. I will then show that this protein is also critical for direct neuronal reprogramming and up-date on the recent breakthrough in direct glia-to-neuron conversion after brain injury. I will then move on to discuss the integration of replaced neurons into the circuitry of the murine cerebral cortex, that normally does not integrate new neurons at adult stages and present unpublished data about the mechanisms regulating this integration. Taken together, our knowledge about basic mechanisms of neurogenesis allowed making great strides towards neuronal repair.