Gordon J Fishell
Harvard University, MA·Neuroscience
The cortex, the brain's outer layer, depends on inhibitory interneurons. These cells keep excitatory neurons in check, and they come in many subtypes.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
cortical interneurons
somatostatin
parvalbumin
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Nov 2028
What they work on
- Determine which target cells SST interneurons in granular versus infragranular cortical layers connect to, and how development sets up this selectivity, using anatomical and optogenetic circuit mapping.
- Identify the embryonic and early-postnatal SST interneuron prototypes that give rise to the nine adult SST cell types, using transcriptomics and genetic tools.
- Build and test gene regulatory networks for PV and SST interneurons with the Bonneau computational lab, examining key transcription factors and candidate disease genes across development.
- Test how cues from pyramidal neurons and mutations in the layer-specific genes Fezf2 and Tbr1 shape where SST interneurons settle and how they connect.
More about the research
Researchers can now list dozens of them, but how each subtype builds specific connections, and why that matters for brain function, remains unclear. Mutations in many disease genes affect these cells, but it is not known how such mutations lead to mental illness. This lab's central idea is that cortical circuits are wired with "lock and key" precision. In this view, particular interneuron subtypes connect only to particular partner neurons. The two grants explore how genetic programs and signals from neighboring cells set up this precision during development. Both focus on interneurons that make somatostatin (SST), a signaling peptide. One grant also studies interneurons that make parvalbumin (PV), a calcium-binding protein.
Why it matters
Many genes linked to mental illness act in cortical interneurons, yet it is unclear how mutations in them disrupt the brain at the level of cells. Learning how interneuron subtypes develop and form specific connections could help explain how these mutations cause disease. It could also point to particular cell types and circuits relevant to psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Alison Barth
Carnegie Mellon University, PA·Neuroscience
Map the circuit connections of a molecularly defined subtype of somatostatin (SST) inhibitory neurons in superficial mouse sensory cortex, and how they change during whisker-reward learning, using cell-type- and pathway-specific brain slice recordings.
John Rubenstein
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Neuroscience
Identify genes that differ across time and region in the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) using enhancer-CreER mouse labeling and single-cell RNA-seq, and study Nfia/b/x and Tcf7l2 mutant mice.
Matthew J.M. Rowan
Emory University, GA·Neuroscience
Develop enhancer-AAVs, viruses carrying cell-type-selective DNA switches, that label dentate gyrus granule cells, and convert the best candidates into optogenetic and chemogenetic variants for controlling these neurons.
The school
Harvard University: 42 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 712 research doctorates a year.
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