Our lab is studying the molecular and cellular basis of human nervous system development in health and disease. We seek to decode the principles controlling the specification and organization of neural diversity and how genetic mutations perturb these events to cause neurodevelopmental disorders. To approach these questions, we are using 3D differentiation of human of pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in specific cell types or in organoids.

On one hand, we combine precisely engineered in vitro differentiation in specific cell types to define extrinsic signals and genetic network dynamics that ensure the formation of distinct motor and sensory circuits along the body axis. On the other hand, we study spinal cord morphogenesis and neural tube formation by exploring hPSC differentiation parameters that govern the emergence of spinal embryoids and organoids. Finally, we use these in vitro models to investigate the basis of rare neurodevelopmental motor neuron diseases called spinal muscular atrophies that affect selective motor neuron subpopulations while they are caused by mutations in ubiquoustly expressed genes.