The interest that guides the laboratory’s research activity concerns the understanding of the mechanisms by which neuronal diversity is generated during the development and differentiation of the Central Nervous System. In particular, the laboratory focuses on the biology of stem cells, from those present in the developing human brain, capable of generating neuronal and functional complexity, to those derived in vitro, both neural and pluripotent (embryonic and induced pluripotent, or iPS cells). The research objectives essentially concern the following aspects:
1. Study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the development of the nervous system, with particular interest on the cerebral cortex;
2. Use of iPS cells derived from human and non-human primates to investigate, from an evolutionary point of view, the cellular mechanisms and gene regulation during the differentiation of brain neurons;
3. Use of neural and pluripotent stem cells in the field of neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s disease) and neurodevelopmental (microcephaly, schizophrenia), with the goal of their application in therapeutic approaches and disease modeling.