THE RESEARCH
What essential pathways govern
brain development?
Proper development of the human brain requires an exquisitely coordinated series of steps, and disruption of these processes can lead to devastating diseases. Our goal is to identify essential pathways linked to human neurodevelopmental disease. We study these pathways during normal development and in disease states using model systems to identify essential and conserved biological processes. We focus on microcephaly, a condition that is characterized by reduced head size. What genes are associated with microcephaly, do they belong to essential pathways that govern brain size, and what are the molecular mechanisms of these pathways during neuronal development?
THE PROCESS
We use Drosophila as a model system to investigate development and disease. The fruit fly is an excellent model for these studies because of the ease and sophistication of its genetic manipulation, short generation time, and low cost. Over 65% of human genes have fly orthologs, and many human genes can functionally replace fly genes in vivo.
