Dr. Mareike Albert is new research group leader at the CRTD

Dr. Mareike Albert is a new research group leader at the Center for Regenerative Therapies (CRTD) at TU Dresden. Previously, she worked at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in the research group of Prof. Wieland Huttner. Now, as a fellow of the Emmy Noether Programme of the DFG, she is starting the independent leadership of a junior research group on the topic "Gene regulatory mechanisms of neocortex evolution".

"I am very much looking forward to my start at the CRTD and in particular to interesting scientific discussions, successful collaborations and exciting discoveries", says Dr. Mareike Albert about her new position.

She is interested in the evolution of the human brain and her research deals with gene regulation in the neocortex. The neocortex is regarded as the centre of higher cognitive functions in humans and describes a region of the brain. During its evolution, the neocortex has undergone strong expansion, which is reflected by an increase in the number of nerve cells. These nerve cells are called neocortical neurons and are generated during development by neural stem and progenitor cells. The factors that regulate the activity of genes play a central role in controlling the behaviour of stem cells during development. The main focus of the research group is to study epigenetic mechanisms in neural stem cells. Understanding these processes may answer questions of neocortex development and evolution, neuronal stem cell regulation and the development of neurodevelopmental diseases.