Development and evolution of the human cerebral cortex - Alexander Pollen

Stanford Neurosciences Institute Molecular Neuroscience Junior Faculty Candidate

Abstract:  What are the genetic and developmental changes underlying the expansion of the human brain over the last six million years? I will discuss our recent identification of a human-specific mutation that increases brain size and improves learning behavior. Next, I will highlight how we have used single cell genomics to characterize the neural stem cell populations that contribute to the expansion of the cerebral cortex during development. Finally, I will describe ongoing work establishing a new model system for studying human-specific biology. 

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