Laboratory for Neocortical Development

Research in our laboratory explores how neurons in the neocortex acquire identities that direct unique sensory perceptions and motor controls. Specifically we are interested in the developmental mechanisms of how diverse arrays of neurons are coordinated into high-functional territories. Despite its well-defined anatomical character and functional significance, the mechanisms underlying the precise assembly of distinct functional areas of the cerebral cortex remains largely unknown. In our laboratory, we address important questions concerning neocortical development: 1) What are the mechanisms by which diverse cell fate is determined in the neocortex? 2) How are neurons precisely arranged into distinct cortical areas? 3) To what extent does the refinement of functional areas rely on extrinsic inputs? To investigate these questions we employ genetic manipulations in mice that will enable conditional loss of gene and cellular functions, recombination mediated cell-lineage tracing, and systematic approaches to identify novel molecules responsible for areal specification. Through these studies we wish to understand the mechanistic basis by which unique sensory perceptions develop in the human neocortex.

Research Subjects

• Neuronal subtype specification in the neocortex
• Molecular mechanisms of layer-specific neuronal differentiation
• Extrinsic determinants in the establishment of neocortical areas

Publications

1. Kumamoto K, Toma K, Gunadi, McKenna W, Kasukawa T, Katzman S, Chen B, Hanashima C.:
   "Foxg1 coordinates the switch from non-radially to radially migrating glutamatergic subtypes in the neocortex through spatiotemporal repression."
   Cell Reports, in press
2. Gonda Y, Andrews WD, Tabata H, Namba T, Parnavelas JG, Nakajima K, Kohsaka S, Hanashima C & Uchino S.:
   "Robo1 regulates the migration and laminar distribution of upper-layer pyramidal neurons of the cerebral cortex."
   Cerebral Cortex, in press
3. Kasukawa T, Masumoto KH, Nikaido I, Nagano M, Uno KD, Tsujino K, Hanashima C, Shigeyoshi Y, Ueda HR.:
   "Quantitative expression profile of distinct functional regions in the adult mouse brain."
   PLoS ONE (2011) 6(8):e23228.
4. Fishell G, Hanashima C.:
   "Cerebral Cortex: Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Cell Division."
   Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2009) Larry E. Squire (Ed.), Elsevier: 785-791.
5. Fishell G, Hanashima C.:
   "Pyramidal neurons grow up and change their mind."
   Neuron (2008) 57(3):333-8.
6. Hanashima C, Fernandes M, Hebert JM, Fishell G.:
   "The role of Foxg1 and dorsal midline signaling in the generation of Cajal-Retzius subtypes."
   Journal of Neuroscience (2007) 27(41):11103-11
7. Hanashima C, Li SC, Shen L, Lai E, Fishell G.:
   "Foxg1 suppresses early cortical cell fate."
   Science (2004) 303: 56-59.