Broad collaboration produces high-resolution atlas of developing human brain In a bid to better understand, and potentially treat, a host of conditions that affect early cognition, neurodevelopment and the brain later in life, investigators at Johns Hopkins Medicine and collea...

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

NeMO Analytics: a compendium of transcriptomic data for the exploration of neocortical development - Nature Neuroscience NeMO Analytics is a compendium of public transcriptomic data focused on the neocortex, enabling biologists without coding expertise to explore hundreds of datasets. Joint decomposition of these data y...

Awesome gift to the research community: a compendium of transcriptomic data for the exploration of neocortical development—gene-level transcriptomic data from ~200(!!!) studies of neocortical development & in vitro models
Thanks @carlocolantuoni.bsky.social & colleagues 🙏
@natneuro.nature.com
🧪🧠

Today in Nature Neuroscience we have published our exploration of neocortical development leveraging 100's of public datasets. You can interrogate the entire compendium of data at nemoanalytics.org/landing/neoc... and read the paper at www.nature.com/articles/s41....

ZBTB18 Expression in the Developing Cerebral Cortex of Humans and Mice.

Adaptive evolution of gene regulatory networks in mammalian neocortex 🏺🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This study uncovers critical components and mammalian-specific evolutionary adaptations within a regulatory node essential for neocortical ExN identity and connectivity.

Adaptive evolution of gene regulatory networks in mammalian neocortex - Nature The excitatory neuron diversity and specialized connectivity of complex, multilayered mammalian neocortex are driven by mammalian-specific cis-regulatory elements bound by ZBTB18, deletion of which di...

New co-first author paper on how ZBTB18 shapes excitatory neuron diversity in mammals. Led by Nenad Sestan with an amazing team. Thanks to Xabier de Martin for key work on the regulatory network.

@researchmar.bsky.social @grib-barcelona.bsky.social @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social

surl.li/rgawzx

Human-specific features of the cerebellum and ZP2-regulated synapse development Human-specific transcriptomic and regulatory features are present in the cerebellum, with ZP2 playing a key role in synapse regulation. ZP2 expression is induced by pontine mossy fibers, leading to de...

Check out this new study, led by Suel-Kee Kim, Adriana Cherskov, and Nenad Sestan, on human-specific cerebellar biology and the unexpected role of ZP2. Glad to have contributed with excellent work from Xoel Mato and Jose Manuel Ruiz.
@researchmar.bsky.social

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

We’re excited to share our new preprint on the mechanisms underlying DNA binding by bHLH transcription factors and how they achieve distinct DNA binding specificities. The study has been spearheaded by Xabier de Martín.

@grib-barcelona.bsky.social

Take a look! 👇

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Sofia Ognibene presented a poster at the XIII Bioinformatics and Genomics Conference on a pipeline to analyze Epstein–Barr virus genomes in the context of the #EBVMS project 🧬🚀
Great work!

Great days in Bergen for the EBV-MS consortium meeting. Inspiring discussions, outstanding science, and a truly collaborative spirit. Excited to be part of such a stimulating international effort to unravel the role of EBV in MS. #EBVMS #MultipleSclerosis
@researchmar.bsky.social

Human-specific features of the cerebellum and ZP2-regulated synapse development Understanding the unique features of the human brain compared to non-human primates has long intrigued humankind. The cerebellum refines motor coordination and cognitive functions, contributing to the...

Excited to share our recent study on human-specific features of the cerebellum and the unexpected, novel role of zona pellucida protein 2 (ZP2) in synapse development. Grateful to the Sestan lab and all our collaborators for their outstanding contributions. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and Yale University have demonstrated how the action of certain #genes on precursor cells of #brain formation can cause alterations linked to cortical malformations but also to the origin of neuropsychiatric diseases

Linking alterations in precursor cells of brain 🧠 formation with the origin of #neuropsychiatricdiseases

#bioinformàtica #neuropsiquiatria #salutmental #autisme #Alzheimer #TalentMAR @santperelab.bsky.social @yaleneuro.bsky.social @hospitaldelmar.bsky.social

www.researchmar.net/news/742/lin...

Special thanks to the many contributors, especially those deeply involved from the beginning: @carlocolantuoni.bsky.social and @suelkeekim.bsky.social, and to also key collaborators and wonderful scientists Alex Jourdon and Shaojie Ma.

Early developmental origins of cortical disorders modeled in human neural stem cells Nature Communications - The implications of early telencephalic development in cortical disorders remain elusive. Here, the authors define risk gene dynamics and perturbation effects in neural stem...

Excited to share our latest work, spearheaded by my brilliant student Xoel Mato and co-led by Nicola Micali. After years of sweat, intense weekly meetings, and meticulous discussion of every panel, we learned a lot from each other. Grateful for the journey!

@researchmar.bsky.social
rdcu.be/evCaU

Excited to showcase as a co-first author our latest work "Adaptive Evolution of Gene Regulatory Networks in Mammalian Neocortical Neurons "www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05....

Mice grow bigger brains when given this stretch of human DNA Finding adds to the bigger picture of how humans developed such large brains.

Mice grow bigger brains when given this stretch of human DNA www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Last week we attended the #ECCN2025 meeting in Alacant. It was an impressive succession of mind-blowing talks—exhilarating and exhausting. You couldn’t let your guard down for a second!

Here are Paula Mayo and Josema Ruiz presenting their posters.

@grib-barcelona.bsky.social

EBV-MS: Unveiling the relationship between Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis - El·lipse A 5-year Horizon Europe-funded project aims to uncover the role of the EBV virus in the onset and progression of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease .

🦠Although infection by the #EpsteinBarrVirus is necessary to develop #MultipleSclerosis, only 0.3% of those infected develop it. A new European project with the participation of 3 PRBB centres aims to understand why and the underlying mechanism.

More 👇
ellipse.prbb.org/ebv-ms-unvei...

Epstein-Barr Virus and Its Role in Multiple Sclerosis: A Growing Area of Research In recent years, scientific evidence linking the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to the development of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has grown significantly. EBV, a common herpesvirus that infects most people at s...

www.uib.no/en/ebvms/177...

The impact of human accelerated regions on neuronal development Human accelerated regions (HARs) are the fastest-evolving sequences in the human genome since the divergence from chimpanzees. Some of these regions a…

Our piece on the beautiful work by Cui et al. on the impact of human accelerated regions on neurons is out now!
@grib-barcelona.bsky.social
@researchmar.bsky.social
@cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

He rigut.

Specification of claustro-amygdalar and palaeocortical neurons and circuits - Nature A conserved gene regulatory network involving SOX4, SOX11 and TFAP2D shapes the development of excitatory neurons in ventrolateral pallium and their connectivity with the prefrontal cortex.

Great study from Nenad Sestan’s lab and collaborators (led by @babyamygdala.bsky.social) on the specification of claustro-amygdalar and ‘palaeocortical’ neurons and circuits — with a key role for TFAP2D dosage, now out in @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Read the full paper from Dennis Joshy, Gabriel Santpere, & Soojin V. Yi of @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social & @researchmar.bsky.social in @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 4/8

🧬 Human Brain Evolution

New research reveals rapid, cell-type-specific regulatory evolution in human brains compared to primates, highlighting specialised changes in brain cells that shaped human cognition and behaviour.

🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#Neuroscience #Evolution #SciComm 🧪

Accelerated cell-type-specific regulatory evolution of the human brain | PNAS The molecular basis of human brain evolution is a key piece in understanding the evolution of human-specific cognitive and behavioral traits. Compa...

Accelerated cell-type-specific regulatory evolution of the human brain | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....