Chicago, IL
United States
CON Membership Talk
Thursday, December 4th, 11:00 am
Federico Salas-Lucia, PhD
University of Chicago
SBRI J461
“Delineating the roles of thyroid hormones in complex neurodevelopmental disorders”
Abstract: Disruptions in the function of neural precursor cells, neurons, and microglia are increasingly recognized as contributors to abnormal neurodevelopment and complex neurological disorders; however, the upstream molecular signals that govern their cell behavior remain poorly understood. My lab anticipates demonstrating that variation in developmental exposure to thyroid hormone (TH) caused by genetic and environmental factors, maternal disease, or endocrine disruptors contributes to the environmental component of the etiology of neurological disorders. This contribution involves cell-type-specific and temporally regulated mechanisms that ensure the finely tuned availability of TH in these three neural cells during neurogenesis and cortical formation. Using state-of-the-art live and fixed correlative microscopy, real-time metabolic measurements, single-cell ATAC sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and methylome analysis and our novel human and mouse models, my lab will address three major mechanistic gaps in knowledge concerning the TH-mediated etiology of neurological disorders: the fate decision of neural precursor cells, the selection and maintenance of neuronal identity, and the proliferation, migration, and target selection for phagocytosis of microglia, uncovering fundamental mechanisms in developmental neurogenesis and cortical formation that, when disrupted, lead to brain abnormalities, cognitive and behavioral impairments, and central nervous system disorders.