Research

Neurogenesis and Cortical expansion

Borrell lab is interested in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the expansion of the cerebral cortex observed across mammalian evolution. The cerebral cortex is the largest structure in the brain and is responsible, among others, for the higher cognitive functions that distinguish humans from other mammals. The extraordinary growth in the size of the cerebral cortex observed across the mammalian evolutionary scale is thought to underlie the concomitant growth in intellectual capacity.

This evolutionary expansion of the cerebral cortex is recapitulated during development in higher mammals, when the embryonic cerebral cortex undergoes massive growth in surface area, and folds itself in stereotypic patterns.

Mutations in cortical development

In recent years multiple genetic mutations have been identified as the leading cause for mental retardation or impairment of intellectual capacity in humans. These mutations have been consistently linked to defects of cortical development during embryogenesis, and functional studies in rodents have shown that these genes play essential roles in distinct aspects of cortical neuron migration or of cortical folding.