Uncovering the transcriptomic landscape during cerebellar nuclei formation

How are new brain regions created? This question can be studied using the cerebellar nuclei (CN), discrete regions deep within the cerebellum with quantifiable differences across organisms; mammals have three CN, birds have two and amphibians have one1. However, the developmental mechanisms by which species form different numbers of CN remains unclear. Observing how development diverges to create different numbers of nuclei may inform how new brain nuclei have arisen throughout evolution. To study nuclei formation, I will use spatial transcriptomics (ST) technique STARmap, which allows spatial readouts of thousands of genes simultaneously with subcellular resolution in tissue sections.