(Image source from: Indian-led team’s breakthrough brain development research })

An Indian-origin scientist in Germany has led a team to discover a complex regulatory mechanism explaining the role of a core gene involved in the formation of brain cells. The research throws light on the development of the brain and its potential to be used in regenerative medicine.

A research team reached the breakthrough in Dr Vijay Tiwari lab, at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz. The study’s lead contributors were Abhijeet Pataskar and Johannes Jung.

The researchers say, "Understanding gene regulatory networks involved in the generation of neurons is a very important question in neurobiology and our findings are an important addition to this knowledge."

Neurodegenerative diseases usually remain incurable. They are characterized by loss of brain cells or neurons. While cells of other body parts of different organs in the human body regenerate, neurons cannot regenerate themselves, which is the prime reason for a variety of neurodegenerative diseases to remain incurable.

Dr Tiwari said, "Our findings are a significant step towards understanding the relationships between DNA sequence, epigenetic changes and (brain) cell fate. This not only sheds light on the mechanisms driving brain cell fate but also opens novel avenues for regenerative medicine."

The research team studied the formation and development of the brain during the embryonic stage. The critical role of single gene, NeuroD1, in the process of brain development was discovered.

Recently, the research paper was published in the EMBO journal.

-Sumana