A Presidential Young Investigator Award will support research focused on early development of the mammalian cerebral cortex. Heterochronic transplantation experiments will be performed to determine whether all cortical progenitor cells are developmentally equivalent, or whether the competence of ventricular cells to respond to environmental cues changes with increasing age. Monoclonal antibodies against cell surface increasing age. Monoclonal antibodies against cell surface molecules will be raised for the purpose of purifying neuronal precursors. The developmental potential of these purified populations of precursor cells will be studied in culture and following transplantation into the brain in order to identify environmental factors that are involved in the production of specific, committed neuronal phenotypes. These studies are fundamental to understanding the development of brain regions involved in higher cognition.
