How do different types of inhibitory neurons develop?
We study how inhibitory neurons acquire their identities during development, and how variants linked to neurodevelopmental disorders shift that process.
Inhibitory neurons shape how brain circuits process information. They include local interneurons and projection neurons that connect different brain regions. We ask how this diversity arises from progenitor cells in the embryonic mouse forebrain.
Our group is based at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence in Martinsried, near Munich, and is led by Christian Mayer.
How timing, context and dosage shape neuronal identity
A developing cell’s identity depends on its history and on how it responds to regulatory signals. We investigate how the timing of development, the accessibility of DNA and the relative amounts of transcription factors influence the types of neurons that progenitors produce.
Many genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders encode these same transcription factors and chromatin regulators. We therefore ask when in development a variant acts, and which cells it affects.
How we work
We combine lineage tracing, single-cell genomics and genetic perturbation to connect a cell’s developmental ancestry with its molecular identity and its response to changes in gene regulation.
- Lineage tracing. TrackerSeq uses heritable DNA barcodes to identify cells descended from the same progenitor.
- Genetic perturbation. tCROP-seq measures the effects of targeted gene disruption in developing neurons and can be combined with lineage tracing.
- Gene regulation. Chromatin profiling, enhancer assays and biochemical experiments help us understand how regulatory proteins control gene activity.
We developed TrackerSeq and tCROP-seq to bring these measurements together. Experimental design and computational analysis are developed alongside one another.
Explore our resources
Browse gene expression in the Mouse Inhibitory Neuron Development atlas, or access the TrackerSeq protocol and analysis pipeline.