Mechanisms of life-long stem cell activity in the mammalian brain, by Sebastian Jessberger

Summary Mechanisms of life-long stem cell activity in the mammalian brain
Neural stem cells generate new neurons throughout life in the mammalian hippocampus. This process, called adult neurogenesis, is critically involved in certain forms of learning and memory. In addition, failing or altered neurogenesis has been associated with a number of neuro-psychiatric diseases such as major depression and cognitive aging. We aim to characterize the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating neural stem cell activity and behavior on a single cell level. Using intravital imaging we identified the behavioral properties of individual neural stem cells in the mouse hippocampus. Here we present novel approaches to study the cellular principles underlying life-long neurogenesis using imaging-based tools and single cell profiling of RNA and protein expression across lifespan and in human models of brain development. The aim of our work is to provide new insights into the cellular principles of life-long neurogenesis and to identify novel mechanisms regulating the behavior of stem cells across lifespan.

Short Biography
Sebastian JESSBERGER is Director of the Brain Research Institute of the. He studied Medicine and carried out his medical thesis at the Center for Molecular Neurobiology (ZMNH) in Hamburg, Germany. In 2002 he started a joint residency in neurology at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and the Dept. of Neurology of the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Germany. As a postdoctoral fellow (2004-2007) in the laboratory of Fred H. Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, USA he continued to work on neural stem cell biology and neurogenesis in the adult brain. From 2007 to 2012 he was Assistant Professor at the ETH Zurich before joining the Brain Research Institute of UZH. He is a fellow of the MaxnetAging network of the Max Planck Society, received several prizes (e.g., Friedrich Gotz prize 2013, Robert Bing prize 2016) and was awarded to join the EMBO Young Investigator program in 2012. He received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2016.

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