Exploring glial roles in sculpting brain development (360G-Wellcome-210472_Z_18_A)

£25,000

Although two broad cell types, neurons and glia, compose the brain, neurobiologists have tended to focus on neurons, the electrically excitable cells that process information. Glia were thought of primarily as neuronal support cells. Recent work challenges this view and shows that glia play essential roles not just in supporting neuronal function but also in instructing their development. I propose three aims to address how glia regulate two key aspects of brain development, neuronal birth and neuronal identity: (i) A major challenge in neurobiology is defining the origin of neuronal identity (and thus diversity). I will investigate how signals sent by glia to naïve precursors determine the unique neuronal fates that these cells adopt. (ii) Although the brain has little regenerative potential, under restricted circumstances differentiated glia can act as stem cells to generate neurons. I have identified one such example and will probe the signals that reprogramme glia to generate neurons. (iii) I will explore how different glial types differ in their regulation of neural development. I will begin with a systematic survey of the signals released by different glial-subtypes and then manipulate these while evaluating their effect on neighbouring neural precursors and neurons.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 25000
Applicant Surname Fernandes
Approval Committee Internal Decision Panel
Award Date 2018-09-30T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2017/18
Grant Programme: Title Sir Henry Dale Fellowship
Internal ID 210472/Z/18/A
Lead Applicant Dr Vilaiwan Fernandes
Partnership Value 25000
Planned Dates: End Date 2023-09-01T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2018-09-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region Greater London
Sponsor(s) Prof Frances Brodsky