Date:
Location:
Dr. Alex Pollen (Postdoctoral Scholar, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California at San Francisco) will be kicking off HEB's 2015-16 Colloquium Lecture Series by lecturing on "Development and Evolution of the Human Cerebral Cortex."
Abstract:
What are the genetic and developmental changes underlying the expansion of the human brain over the last six million years? I will discuss our recent identification of a human-specific mutation that increases brain size and improves learning behavior. Next, I will highlight how we have used single cell genomics to characterize the neural stem cell populations that contribute to the expansion of the cerebral cortex during development. Finally, I will describe ongoing work establishing a new model system for studying human-specific biology.
This event is free and open to the public.