Genre: Information/Explanation

Division :: Developmental Neurobiology Head of Division :: Dr David Wilkinson Our Division studies how the nervous system develops in the embryos of vertebrates . The brain and spinal cord originate from the neural epithelium , a tissue that forms early in embryo development . The developing nervous system becomes intricately patterned such that different regions of the brain are formed , and different cell types are formed at appropriate positions . The connection of nerves with specific targets within the embryo establishes the foundations of the mature nervous system . Our research studies genes responsible for patterning the neural epithelium and we investigate how their expression results in the formation of different regions and cell types . Since development of neural tissue is very similar across different types of vertebrates , our labs use the distinct experimental advantages of different organisms ( including mice , chicks , frogs and zebrafish ) to gain a better understanding of how the nervous system develops . Research groups :: Siew-Lan Ang :: Regional and cell type specification of the forebrain and midbrain James Briscoe :: Specification of neuronal identity in the vertebrate neural tube Nobue Itasaki :: Neural patterning in vertebrate embryogenesis David Wilkinson :: Segmentation of the vertebrate nervous system