Distinguished Investigators

Groups

Studying human brain cells is one of the most promising ways to better understand the function of the healthy brain as well as provide insight into the development of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. However, growing those cells in vitro constitutes a major gap in our understanding. It typically takes more than a year to develop cells that come close to resembling fully mature neurons, and even then, yield is often low and full maturity has not been reached. The six projects chosen to receive ADI grants in this field of neuronal maturation all tackle one or more of these challenges in bold new ways, including using innovative technologies and novel points of view.

Daniel Geschwind, Ph.D.

University of California, Los Angeles

Steve Horvath, Ph.D.

University of California, Los Angeles

William Lowry, Ph.D.

University of California, Los Angeles

Jeffrey Macklis, M.D., D.HST

Harvard University

Kathrin Plath, Ph.D.

University of California, Los Angeles

Thomas Reh, Ph.D.

University of Washington

Fred Rieke, Ph.D.

University of Washington

David Rowitch, Ph.D.

University of California, San Francisco

Erik Ullian, Ph.D.

University of California, San Francisco

Rachel Wong, Ph.D.

University of Washington

Feng Zhang, Ph.D.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Neuronal Maturation (2015)

“Flight Data” Recorder, Checkpoint Timing, Hodaptics, and Growth Cone Independence

Neuronal Maturation (2015)

Genome-Scale Technologies for Reverse-Engineering Transcriptional Logics Underlying Cell Fate Specification

Neuronal Maturation (2015)

Identifying and Inducing Hallmarks of Maturity in Human Neurons

Neuronal Maturation (2015)

Matching Regional Diversity with Function: Unique Astrocyte Signals Mature Regionally Matched Neurons

Neuronal Maturation (2015)

Transcriptomic and epigenetic acceleration of neuronal maturation and aging

Neuronal Maturation (2015)

Using miRNAs to Accelerate in vitro Circuit Maturation in 3D Neural Structures from ESCs