Molecular atlas reveals how brain cells develop

Using a combination of powerful sequencing techniques and mathematical methods, researchers have traced the genetic programs that direct the development of each cell in the brain. This molecular map could help researchers to understand how the brain develops and provide insights into a range of conditions, including brain tumors and neurodevelopmental disorders. As the fertilized egg divides, initially undifferentiated cells take on specific functions, becoming more distinct as different tissues and organs emerge. Understanding how hundreds of disparate cell types arise has proven difficult, largely because scientists have lacked the technologies to capture cellular decision making over time. Recent advances have allowed researchers to measure changes in gene activity of individual cells, so several groups started to study in detail how specialized cell types are formed in specific brain regions. However, nobody had thus far traced the patterns of gene expression across the entire developing brain. Now, for the first time, researchers and their collaborators at Karolinska Institute in Sweden mapped the genetic and developmental trajectories that embryonic cells follow toward their fate in the maturing brain.