BIOMEDICINE WORKSHOP “Development and Adult Neurogenesis in the Central Nervous System”

• SCOPE

Vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) is achieved through multiple orders of developmental processes including neural induction, regionalization of the neural tube, proliferation of neural stem cells, cell type determination, and neurogenesis. Our understanding of vertebrate brain development has been deepened recently. The differentiation of the brain regions is initiated by organizing signals that regulate the expression of transcription factors, which in turn determine the regionalities. The differences in the signal strength and the competence of the recipient cells cause the differential outputs, thus regulating the differentiation of the neighboring regions. Specific type of neurons and glial cells differentiates depending on their birth place and time. Neurogenesis in the adult brain of vertebrates was discovered half a century ago. This phenomenon has attracted much attention recently, as the newly generated neurons are integrated in already established architecture of the adult brain. This gives a hope of repairing damaged brain by explanting neural stem cells or modulating remaining adult neurogenesis. In parallel, researchers have succeeded in making pluripotent stem cells from embryos and even from adult tissue, and are trying to reconstruct functional organ system from stem cells. On this particular occasion, we will discuss brain development and adult neurogenesis in vertebrates. The goal is to focus in the molecular and cellular processes underlying the origin of adult progenitors and revealing conserved mechanisms that regulate neural proliferation and differentiation in embryonic and adult brain.