Brian Chen, PhD
Primary Axis:
Neurosciences
Email:
Email contact form Research Focus:
Research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of how neural circuits wire up with precision. This lab combines high-resolution imaging techniques with advanced molecular genetics in different model systems to look inside living animals while their neurons form synapses in the hopes of providing insight into how the brain’s wiring diagram is encoded in the genome, and how these instructions can go awry in mental disorders and mental retardation.
External Website:
External Website Keywords:
Brain wiring, neural circuit formation, axon guidance, synaptic targeting, synapse specificity, molecular neurobiology, 2-photon in vivo imaging
Location:
Montreal General Hospital Publications:
Neufeld SQ, Hibbert AD, Chen BE. Opposing roles of PlexinA and PlexinB in axonal branch and varicosity formation. Molecular Brain 4: 15-26; 2011
Schmucker D, Chen B. Dscam and DSCAM: Complex genes in simple animals, complex animals yet simple genes. Genes & Development 23: 147-156; 2009
Chen BE, Kondo M, Garnier A, Watson FL, Püttmann-Holgado R, Lamar DR, Schmucker, D. The molecular diversity of Dscam is functionally required for neuronal wiring specificity in Drosophila. Cell 125: 607-620; 2006
Trachtenberg JT, Chen BE, Knott GW, Feng G, Sanes JR, Welker E, Svoboda K. Long-term in vivo imaging of experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in adult cortex. Nature 420: 788-794; 2002
