Cerebellar nuclei are the primary organizers of circuit formation in cerebellum

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This research program is aimed at understanding the mechanism driving early cerebellar development. The cerebellum is critical for motor coordination and also for non-motor functions such as emotion and cognition. Two major types of neurons regulate cerebellar function: Purkinje cells and cerebellar nuclei (CN) neurons. It is widely thought that Purkinje cells direct the patterning of all other cerebellar cell types. This notion also implies that the Purkinje cells are the targets of the early nerve fibers arriving in the cerebellum, which are thought to originate from the vestibular nerve. My research has identified an unexpected and novel role for a subset of CN neurons in setting up cerebellar connectivity. My data strongly suggest that CN may receive incoming nerve fibers contacts from the trigeminal nerve about one day before the birth of Purkinje cells. Interestingly, these CN neurons appear to originate from a new germinal zone. The goal of this study is to determine the genetic, cellular, and molecular mechanisms that CN neurons use to establish the cerebellar neuronal network (incoming nerve fiber connection to the outgoing neuron) as a principal organizer of the developing cerebellum.