An unprecedented map of the gene activity changes in various types of human brain cells from foetal development to adulthood has been created by Australian scientists. Researchers will now be able to recognise altered states in neurological and psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia or aberrant cell states in diseases like brain cancer with greater accuracy thanks to this map of typical brain cell development.
A group of Perth researchers from the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and The University of Western Australia have developed this map, which is the first of its kind in the world, of the changes in gene activity that take place in the different brain cells throughout development from before birth to adulthood.
According to Dr. Chuck Herring, “This high-resolution map illustrates how the gene activity of each distinct type of brain cell in the prefrontal cortex changes as we mature, from mid-gestation through adulthood in normal individuals,” and it predicts the cellular factors that control these changes.
