Molecular and cell biological mechanisms mediating re-establishment and maintenance of cell polarity in the developing CNS

发育中的胚胎脊髓中的新生神经元会脱落它们的尖端以移动到它们的最终位置。这种脱落事件的结果是，这些新生的神经元失去了关键的蛋白质，这些蛋白质使它们能够区分它们的前后，导致它们失去极性。在此之后，神经元必须迅速重新极化。这种再极化是至关重要的，因为它允许神经元延长一个被称为轴突的长细胞过程，它与目标细胞（可能是肌肉或其他神经元）建立联系。在发育中的胚胎中，神经元响应周围组织的外部信号而重新极化。这些外部信号决定了这种重极化的位置，从而决定了轴突移动的方向，或者它是否会形成。因此，这是一个至关重要的事件，对功能性神经回路的形成至关重要。我建议研究指导这一关键细胞生物学过程的分子和细胞机制，更好地理解这一过程将最终导致操纵和/或刺激它来治疗胚胎发育和成年期神经疾病的可能性。此外，许多癌细胞在转移过程中也经历了非常相似的重极化过程，这使得它们能够迁移到不同的位置，形成更多的肿瘤。癌细胞很可能以一种类似于新生神经元的方式做到这一点，因此了解神经元的再极化也可能有助于我们了解癌细胞是如何迁移形成继发性肿瘤的。因此，了解细胞如何对周围组织作出反应而再极化具有深远的意义。

Newborn neurons in the spinal cord of the developing embryo shed their tips to move to their final location. As a result of this shedding event, these newborn neurons lose key proteins that allow them to distinguish their front from their back, causing them to lose polarity. Following this, the neuron must now rapidly repolarise itself. This repolarisation is crucial, as it allows the neuron to extend a long cell-process, called an axon, which makes connections with its targets, which could be muscles or other neurons. In the developing embryo, the neuron repolarises in response to external signals from the surrounding tissue. These external cues determine the position of this repolarisation and therefore determine the direction in which the axon will travel, or if it forms at all. This is thus a critical event that is essential for the formation of functional neuronal circuitry. I propose to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms that direct this key cell-biological process, and a better understanding of this will ultimately lead to the possibility of manipulating and/or stimulating it to treat neural disorders during embryogenesis and adulthood. Additionally, many cancer cells also undergo a very similar repolarisation process during the process of metastasis, which allows them to migrate to different locations and form more tumours. It is likely that the cancer cells do this in a way similar to newborn neurons, so understanding neuron repolarisation will potentially also help us to understand how cancer cells migrate to form secondary tumours. Thus understanding how cells repolarise in response to surrounding tissues has far-reaching consequences.