The Neurorigins lab

The brain contains myriad different types of neurons and glia. This cellular diversity is the structural basis of cognitive functions such as consciousness or language. The Neurorigins lab works to understand how cellular diversity arises during brain development and how it is affected in different pathologies. Our aims are:

1. To understand the molecular mechanisms that determine cellular diversity in the brain.

2. To produce cell types with therapeutic interest in brain diseases.

3. To generate new genetic tools to study brain development.

Advancing on these objectives will lead us to comprehend the basis of certain developmental diseases such as autism or intellectual disability. In addition, it will make it possible to generate cell types that can be used as therapy for diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease.

We address these objectives through state-of-the-art methodology, which includes:

• Molecular biology techniques: PCR, qRT-PCR, electrophoresis, plasmid cloning, etc.
• In utero electroporation, with the aim of introducing genes into brain stem cells.
• Generation of transgenic mouse lines by CRISPR (iGONAD).
• Histological techniques: tissue processing, immunolabeling, in situ hybridization, etc.
• Epifluorescence and confocal microscopy
• Stereotactic injections

For more information, see neurorigins.org.