A systems Biology perspective to study nervous tissue formation

Le 08 juillet 2022 à 14h00 Séminaire

Spatio-temporally organized cell fate transitions which generate cell lineages and cell identities are fundamental for the genesis of multicellular organisms and alterations from this genetically orchestrated plan can cause pathologies. One such process is neurogenesis, a highly complex event which in a multicellular organization context leads to the formation of one of the most complex organs retrieved in higher organisms: the brain. Thus, the study of the multicellular organization of the brain, and the associated genetic programs are essential to understand the etiology of aberrant disorders like Alzheimer's disease or brain tumors formation.

Our current work is focused on decorticating the complexity of the gene regulatory networks implicated in brain organogenesis by taking advantage of in-vitro 3D brain organoid cultures combined with the use of modern spatio-temporal in situ transcriptome strategies. During the seminar, I will provide an overview of the strategies we use in the team to address nervous tissue formation, including 3-dimensional cell cultures; spatial transcriptomics developments, but also the development of computational solutions required to interrogate the spatial readouts.