Publications

Establishing Cerebral Organoids as Models of Human-Specific Brain Evolution

Establishing Cerebral Organoids as Models of Human-Specific Brain Evolution

Summary: Direct comparisons of human and non-human primate brains can reveal molecular pathways underlying remarkable specializations of the human brain. However, chimpanzee tissue is inaccessible during neocortical neurogenesis when differences in brain size first appear. To identify human-specific features of cortical development, we leveraged recent innovations that permit generating…

A non-enzymatic glucose sensor enabled by bioelectronic pH control

A non-enzymatic glucose sensor enabled by bioelectronic pH control

Summary: Continuous glucose monitoring from sweat and tears can improve the quality of life of diabetic patients and provide data for more accurate diagnosis and treatment. Current continuous glucose sensors use enzymes with a one-to-two week lifespan, which forces periodic replacement. Metal oxide sensors are an alternative to enzymatic sensors with a longer lifetime…

Human-Specific NOTCH2NL Genes Affect Notch Signaling and Cortical Neurogenesis.

Human-Specific NOTCH2NL Genes Affect Notch Signaling and Cortical Neurogenesis.

Summary: Genetic changes causing brain size expansion in human evolution have remained elusive. Notch signaling is essential for radial glia stem cell proliferation and is a determinant of neuronal number in the mammalian cortex. We find that three paralogs of human-specific NOTCH2NL are highly expressed in radial glia. Functional analysis reveals that different alleles of NOTCH2NL have varying…

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018