The cerebral cortex consists of a large variety of neuronal and glial subtypes with specific morphological and functional characteristics associated with distinct molecular properties. During development, cortical neurons and glia migrate from their sites of origin to their specific final locations within the laminar and columnar organization of the cerebral cortex, and form stereotypical connections within the cerebral cortex, as well as with cells in other parts of the brain.

The goal of our lab is to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern unique positioning and connections of various neuronal and glial subtypes in normal cortical development, and understand the etiology of cognitive and psychiatric disorders in which abnormalities in these processes may be involved. Toward this goal, we use a variety of tools and techniques including in vivo gene manipulation, transgenic mice, human tissue specimens, cell lineage and neural circuit tracing, and time-lapse live imaging of cells.