Research
The mammalian cerebral cortex plays key roles in learning and memory, the control of sensory and motor functions or of our emotions. The proper execution of these tasks depends on a long process of embryonic and postnatal development which relies on the production by neural stem cells of the appropriate number of neurons with proper identities that migrate to their specific location and make connections with each other. Defective signaling pathways during development are the causes of human brain disorders such as lissencephalies and heterotopias, mental retardation, dyslexia, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy and many others. The goal of our laboratory is to better define the mechanisms of neural cell proliferation, migration, differentiation and synaptogenesis.
A better understanding of how the brain develops in normal conditions and in disease will provide new concepts for therapeutic approaches to improve diagnosis and to treat and prevent neurodevelopmental disorders.
Team members
- Yves JOSSIN, PhD, Head of the research group
- Alexia COSSARD, Postdoc
- Kirsten STAM, PhD Student
- Angélique JOSSI, Technician
Ongoing projects
- Mechanisms regulating neuronal cell polarity, migration and differentiation.
- Mechanisms regulating embryonic neural stem cell adhesion, proliferation and neurogenesis.
Key publications
- Cossard, Alexia; Stam, Kirsten; Smets, Aurore & Jossin, Yves (2023). MKL/SRF and Bcl6 mutual transcriptional repression safeguards the fate and positioning of neocortical progenitor cells mediated by RhoA. Science Advances, 9, 1-20. doi :10.1126/sciadv.add0676
- Na, Youn ; Calvo Jimenez, Elisa ; Kon, Elif ; Cao, Hong ; Jossin, Yves ; Cooper, Jonathan A. Fbxo45 binds SPRY motifs in the extracellular domain of N-cadherin and regulates neuron migration during brain development.. In: Molecular and cellular biology, Vol. 40, no. 14, p. e00539-19. (2020). doi:10.1128/MCB.00539-19.
- Kon, Elif ; Calvo Jimenez, Elisa ; Cossard, Alexia ; Na, Youn ; Cooper, Jonathan A ; Jossin, Yves. N-cadherin-regulated FGFR ubiquitination and degradation control mammalian neocortical projection neuron migration.. In: eLife, Vol. 8 (2019). doi:10.7554/eLife.47673.
- Jossin, Yves ; Lee, Minhui ; Klezovitch, Olga ; Kon, Elif ; Cossard, Alexia ; Lien, Wen-Hui ; Fernandez, Tania E ; Cooper, Jonathan A ; Vasioukhin, Valera. Llgl1 Connects Cell Polarity with Cell-Cell Adhesion in Embryonic Neural Stem Cells.. In: Developmental Cell, Vol. 41, no.5, p. 481-495.e5 (2017). doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2017.05.002.
- Jossin, Yves ; Cooper, Jonathan A. Reelin, Rap1 and N-cadherin orient the migration of multipolar neurons in the developing neocortex.. In: Nature neuroscience, Vol. 14, no.6, p. 697-703 (2011 juin). doi:10.1038/nn.2816.