Clifton Ragsdale, Ph.D.

Molecular Genetic Control of Brain Development and Differentiation

Research Summary

In vertebrate brains, neurons with similar connections are aggregated into neural centers known as nuclei. Dozens of nuclei can be distinguished in the brains of birds and mammals, and connections among neurons in these brains are in essence connections targeted to different nuclei. Viewed from this perspective, the problem of how neurons make the correct connections with one another in early development is in part a problem of pattern formation: how are neurons assigned to different nuclear fates? and how are nuclei formed? My research is carried out in chicks and mice. The chick brain is accessible throughout development for fate mapping and cell lineage studies, microsurgical manipulation including tissue transplants, and manipulation of gene expression by recombinant retrovirus infection and in vivo electroporation. Research on the mouse embryo offers a broad range of reverse genetic technologies and many established mutant lines. A major focus of my current work is on size control and cell-type specification in the vertebrate midbrain, a principal division of the central nervous system.

Selected Papers