In some genetic cases of microcephaly, stem cells fail to launch
The study was published August 24 in Nature Communications . Due to the Zika virus, the world is suffering from its first known epidemic of microcephaly, a devastating brain developmental condition that substantially reduces the number of neurons in the brain, along with brain size and function at birth. Mutations in a number of human genes have been implicated in causing the relatively rare occurrence of this disease. Mutations in one such gene -- NDE1 (referred to as "nood-E") -- cause a particularly severe form of microcephaly. The Columbia researchers -- David Doobin, an MD/PhD student, Richard Vallee, PhD, professor of pathology and cell biology, and others in Dr. Vallee's lab -- reasoned that investigating NDE1's role in microcephaly should provide important clues to the causes of microcephaly in general. In the study, the researchers found that interfering with NDE1 expression severely inhibited the proliferation of stem cells in the developing rat bra...