Molecular and cellular mechanisms directing neuronal microtubule rearrangements during vertebrate CNS development

Polarity, the asymmetric organisation of cellular components, is crucial for the function of many cell types.

Newborn neurons in the developing spinal cord shed their tips to move to their final location, causing them to lose polarity and the ability to distinguish their front from their back.

These neurons must then regain polarity to extend a long process, called an axon, which makes connections with other neurons.

In the developing embryo, neurons polarise in response to external cues from the surrounding tissue, which determine the orientation in which the axon will form, and therefore the direction it will grow in, or if it forms at all.

Thus, neuron polarisation is essential for the formation of neuronal circuitry; however, the mechanisms of vertebrate neuron polarisation within tissue are unclear.

I will study the molecular and cellular mechanisms that direct this key cell-biological process using cutting-edge live imaging and super-resolution microscopy of developing neurons in the embryonic chick spinal cord.

Not only will this work help us understand how the nervous system is built, but it will also enrich our understanding of the general cellular mechanisms of polarity transition in development and disease.