Development, Wiring and Function of Cerebellar Circuits
Cerebellar development,
wiring and function
Our research
The cerebellum is taught as a motor structure, yet cerebellar injury in preterm infants is among the strongest known risk factors for autism. Our research team runs several related projects studying why. Our aim is to uncover the principles by which the developing cerebellum licenses the maturation of distant circuits, and why perturbing it within critical windows leaves marks that persist into adulthood.
We combine mouse genetics, viral circuit tracing, whole-brain 3D light-sheet imaging, in vivo electrophysiology and widefield imaging, single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomics, and quantitative behavioural analysis, following a single perturbation from the early development through to the adult brain.
Our long-term goal is to explain how the cerebellum contributes to the organisation of brain-wide circuits, in typical development and in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Cerebellar Long-range circuits
Understanding cerebellar long-range connectivity that relays cerebellar output to diverse brain areas.
We aim to elucidate how the cerebellum influences the development and function of remote brain circuits, with particular interest on the cerebellar modulation of the developing cortical circuits.
Cerebellar
microcircuits
Investigating the development and assembly of local cerebellar circuits. We seek to determine basic regulatory mechanisms underlying the formation and function of these circuit and how alterations in these processes derive in an abnormal function of the cerebellum.
The lab
The lab was established at the Instituto de Neurociencias (IN) in January 2021. The IN is one of Spain's leading neuroscience institutions and a joint research centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH). It brings together internationally recognised groups spanning molecular and developmental neurobiology through to systems neuroscience, and provides an outstanding environment for scientific training.
Funding
Our research is currently supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (GA No. 950013), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Grant PID2021-122986NA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe” and the Plan Gen-T from the Generalitat Valenciana (SEJIGENT/2021/036).
We also received funding from the Severo Ochoa Excelence Program and H2020 (MSCA-IF).
