How is development coordinated across the brain?
     Neural circuits are composed of diverse cell-types in precise numbers and stoichiometries, and often span multiple brain regions. Coordinating proliferation, specification, differentiation, survival and connectivity is critical for appropriate circuit function and, therefore, understanding coordination is key to understanding nervous system development. Nonetheless, we lack an integrated view of how coordination is achieved. In the Fernandes lab we aim to uncover the mechanisms that coordinate developmental processes to build functional circuitry.

Our lab is generously funded by the Wellcome Trust to address fundamental questions in developmental neurobiology.
 
Conservation of biological processes enables us to investigate general principles of nervous system development using the fruit fly, where we make use of modern genetic and molecular techniques to gain deep mechanistic insight into developmental processes.

Research Projects

Neuron-generated morphogen gradients
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We discovered that photoreceptors regulate the neuronal diversity of their target field,  through a Hedgehog morphogen gradient. Unlike other known morphogen gradients, which emanate away from the source, here the gradient forms along the lengths of photoreceptor axons. This project aims to uncover the cell and molecular mechanisms behind such a gradient.

Timing and coordinating neuronal specification with commitment 

Neuronal differentiation is driven by dramatic changes in gene expression, which are precisely timed during development. This project aims to understand (1) the molecular mechanisms that drive a progenitor cell to differentiate into a neuron and (2) how these mechanisms are timed to enable rapid commitment to a particular neuronal fate

Eavesdropping on inter-cellular chatter during brain development

Our investigations thus far have uncovered intricate signalling relays and feedback loops that coordinate neuronal development; clearly, we have only scratched the surface.

​What other intercellular interactions shape and coordinate brain development? And can we find them through a systematic search?