Investigation of cell migration, fate specification and axon navigation in the neocortex by genetic cell ablation

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The neocortex contains multiple types of projection neurons, which are ordered in six layers. These neurons are born from the same type of neuronal progenitors named radial glia cells. We have recently shown that young neurons can influence the fate of neuronal progenitors by a feedback mechanism so that they secrete certain factors that act on progenitors and instruct them to give rise to various cell types of neurons and glia. On the other hand exact contribution of different types of cortical neurons into this “feedback” is not known. It is also not known how local environment and cell-cell interactions influence axon navigation and cell migration. We will address these issues by genetic ablation of various cortical cell types. We will investigate how does ablation of certain neuronal cell types will influence cell proliferation, migration and axonal targeting.