Research
Cerebellum development and evolution
The cerebellum ('little brain') sits at the base of the brain and is famous for controlling motor coordination - naturally occurring mouse mutants with malformations of the cerebellum have names like 'weaver' and 'staggerer'. Notably, the cerebellum contains over half of the neurons in the mature human brain, and this huge number of neurons derives from a particular population of neural progenitor cells that sit on top of the cerebellum during development: the external granule layer, the 'EGL'. As well as being a great model for the biology of progenitor proliferation (the EGL is an important cell of origin for medulloblastoma, the most prevalent paediatric brain tumour), the cerebellum is also a fantastic system for studying brain evolution, as it comes in a huge variety of sizes and shapes in different vertebrate animals. We study the control of proliferation and differentiation in this cell population, with a view to understanding how the cerebellum develops, how its development goes awry in disease, and how it has evolved across different vertebrate species.
Research grants
Bench Fees for Suad Hassan S Alghamdi
ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA CULTURAL BUREAU IN LONDON (UK)
October 2018 - September 2022
Research collaborations
Bettina Wilm (Liverpool)
The role of Wt1 in the early gastrulating embryo.
Richard Wingate (KCL)
KCL
Cerebellar development and evolution.
Maurice Elphick (QMUL)
QMUL
Neuropeptide evolution across deuterostomes.