Date: Thursday, April  3
Time: 4:00pm
Location: 46-3002, Singleton Auditorium (Third floor of MIT Building 46)​​​​​​​
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89238458002

Title: Human brain cell atlases powering basic and translational science

Abstract: Single cell and spatial genomics methods are rapidly transforming our understanding of cellular diversity in the brain, and are so scalable that they are enabling the creation of comprehensive brain wide cell atlases in human and model organisms. These atlases are powerful resources akin to the human genome, and provide a unifying framework for understanding brain cellular architecture and its conservation and specialization across species. Furthermore, they can be used to identify regulatory sequences that can be used to create a new generation of cell type-selective perturbational tools to probe nervous system function across species. These tools are now proving to have immediate translational relevance, as they can be applied to identify vulnerable and affected cell populations in disease. Identifying the cellular locus of disease opens up new opportunities to selectively target those cell types as a therapeutic strategy. This talk will describe efforts in the NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network to create brain wide human and non-human primate cell atlases, how they can be used to gain new insights about cellular vulnerability in Alzheimer’s disease, and how cell selective genetic tools could lead to precision gene therapies for epilepsies and other diseases.

Bio: 
Ed Lein is a Senior Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and an Affiliate Professor in the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP) at the University of Washington. He received a B.S. in biochemistry from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from UC Berkeley and performed postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Ed joined the Allen Institute in 2004 and has provided scientific leadership for the creation of large-scale anatomical, cellular and gene expression atlases of the adult and developing mammalian brain as catalytic community resources, including the inaugural Allen Mouse Brain Atlas and a range of developmental and adult human and nonhuman primate brain atlases. Particular current research interests involve the use of single cell genomics as a core phenotype to understand brain cellular organization, mammalian conservation and human specificity, define cellular vulnerability in disease, and identify regulatory elements that allow cell type-specific targeting and manipulation.
He leads the Human Cell Types Department, which aims to create comprehensive cell atlases of the human and non-human primate brain, understand what is disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease, and create tools for precision genetic targeting of brain cell types as transformative tools for basic neuroscience and gene therapy. He is also a member of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN), a member of the Organizing Committee of the Human Cell Atlas (HCA), and a CIFAR fellow. Ed's areas of expertise include developmental neurobiology, structural and cellular neuroanatomy, transcriptomics and epigenomics, comparative neurobiology, and Alzheimer’s disease. His research program work encompasses brain cell at lasing, comparative neurobiology, Alzheimer’s disease, and gene therapy.