Calegari Group
All neurons in the brain are generated by neural stem cells (NSC). Neurogenesis mostly occurs during embryonic development and, in certain brain areas, also throughout life. Our goal is to understand the mechanisms controlling the expansion of NSC and their switch to neurogenesis. This is important to understand how the brain forms during development and how does it work throughout life. Not least, controlling neurogenesis can provide us with the means to use NSC to rescue brain deficits associated to aging or disease. Continue reading if you want to know the hidden secrets of our work…
© Vittoria Avaro
Our research
It’s just a matter of Time
Neural stem cells (NSC), like any other somatic stem cell, can divide to generate either two identical stem cells (proliferative division) or more differentiated cells, such us neurons (differentiative division). We found that the length of the G1 phase of the cell cycle acts as a switch determining whether a NSC will undergo a proliferative vs. differentiative division (Fig. 1A). In essence, stem cells need Time in order to differentiate and this is provided during G1. The cool part is that we can change G1 as we wish… well, sort of.
If you have any questions regarding our research or if your are interested in a scientific collaboration please contact us.
© TUD/Magdalena Gonciarz
Prof. Dr. Federico Calegari
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