Jose Ramon Barcenas WallsPhD student

The cells from our body contain the same set of instructions stored in our genes However, neurons, liver cells or muscle cells have remarkably different functions, how is that possible?  

Multicellular organisms such as humans regulate the activity of genes by attaching chemical marks. The collection of these marks is called the epigenome. Just as punctuation marks (e.g. ?, !, or ;) could change, intensify or add a specific meaning to the same sentence, epigenetic marks modulate genes by switching them on or off. In this way the organism switches on or off genes required for different cell types. If we can identify these changes behind the cell´s epigenetic switches, we can gain insight into the patterns of how cells progress in their developing stages, from immature (stem and progenitor cells) to mature and specialized cells functions. 

In my project we are collecting snapshots of the epigenome of the developing human brain. We will use a new method that was previously developed in our lab, which provides multiple readings across the epigenome in each individual single cell. An advantage of having multiple readings instead of one is that it provides us with more resolution to observe epigenetic diversity of the cells. An analogy will be to have a three color (Red, Green, Blue) snapshot, in comparison to having black and white image. We will adapt this method to increase its throughput, obtaining more cell snapshots with less time and resources.

The importance of our research is that until now, little is known about the epigenetic dynamics for the human brain development. We expect it will provide a valuable resource for discovering key molecular mechanisms behind cell differentiation and maturation. This in turn, will indicate key processes in brain development and help us to understand better neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.