About this Research Topic
Model organisms have long been and continue to be instrumental in facilitating our understanding of the development of the nervous system and neurodevelopmental disorders. There is considerable conservation in developmental mechanisms between humans and animal models like rodents especially regarding gross anatomy, patterning, and neuronal function. However, recent studies indicate that there are also critical fundamental differences in the neurodevelopmental mechanisms including the presence of human-specific features that are either reduced or altogether absent in animals. Such interspecies differences pose significant challenges to the advancement of therapeutic approaches against devastating neurodevelopmental disorders involving these human-specific phenotypes. Therefore, a better appreciation of neurodevelopment and disease in humans vis-à-vis animal models is necessary and the need of the hour as it will facilitate a better understanding of human development and disease, and aid in the creation of targeted and effective therapies. Recent advances in technology around imaging, genomics, and transcriptomics have helped us identify similarities and differences between humans and commonly used development and disease models, facilitating comparative studies and the establishment of the “humanized” animal and cellular models that aim to understand and characterize many human-specific characteristics in different contexts.
Animal models have played a crucial role in dissecting the cellular and molecular features of neural development. However, some animal models have limitations particularly since they do not mimic some of the more unique features of human brain development. More recently, cellular models like organoids have been employed to model complex features of cerebral cortical disease in the absence of appropriate animal models. Therefore, the need of the hour is to evaluate the role of animal and cellular models in determining the mechanisms of neural development and disease.
The main goal of this project is to invite the submission of articles and reviews from researchers who use various model systems and are interested in different aspects of neural development spanning different aspects of basic biology right from the identification of candidate genes to translational aspects such as the testing of therapies for central nervous system birth defects. The goal is to establish a collection that will assess the strengths as well as the weaknesses of animal and cellular models in advancing our understanding of human brain development and disease.
The scope of the Research Topic covers the following themes:
• Established models to study neural development and disease
o Cellular models (human pluripotent stem cell-based 2-dimensional and 3D-dimensional models to study nervous system development and gene function)
o Mammalian models (genetically engineered rodent models and other higher mammalian and non-human primate models)
o Other vertebrate and non-vertebrate animal models of neural development and disease
• High-throughput approaches to study neural development
o Single cell-based transcriptomic and epigenomic approaches to identify novel cell types/states and disease mechanisms
o Large-scale comparative analyses of animal models and human neurodevelopment
o GWAS studies to identify disease-linked genomic alterations and mutations
• Advanced imaging approaches to study neural development
• Use of cellular and animal models to develop therapies for neural disease
• Advances in gene editing to model rare neurodevelopmental disorders in cellular and animal models
We are inviting all kinds of manuscripts permitted by Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience including Original articles, commentaries, reviews, opinions, and so on.
Animal models have played a crucial role in dissecting the cellular and molecular features of neural development. However, some animal models have limitations particularly since they do not mimic some of the more unique features of human brain development. More recently, cellular models like organoids have been employed to model complex features of cerebral cortical disease in the absence of appropriate animal models. Therefore, the need of the hour is to evaluate the role of animal and cellular models in determining the mechanisms of neural development and disease.
The main goal of this project is to invite the submission of articles and reviews from researchers who use various model systems and are interested in different aspects of neural development spanning different aspects of basic biology right from the identification of candidate genes to translational aspects such as the testing of therapies for central nervous system birth defects. The goal is to establish a collection that will assess the strengths as well as the weaknesses of animal and cellular models in advancing our understanding of human brain development and disease.
The scope of the Research Topic covers the following themes:
• Established models to study neural development and disease
o Cellular models (human pluripotent stem cell-based 2-dimensional and 3D-dimensional models to study nervous system development and gene function)
o Mammalian models (genetically engineered rodent models and other higher mammalian and non-human primate models)
o Other vertebrate and non-vertebrate animal models of neural development and disease
• High-throughput approaches to study neural development
o Single cell-based transcriptomic and epigenomic approaches to identify novel cell types/states and disease mechanisms
o Large-scale comparative analyses of animal models and human neurodevelopment
o GWAS studies to identify disease-linked genomic alterations and mutations
• Advanced imaging approaches to study neural development
• Use of cellular and animal models to develop therapies for neural disease
• Advances in gene editing to model rare neurodevelopmental disorders in cellular and animal models
We are inviting all kinds of manuscripts permitted by Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience including Original articles, commentaries, reviews, opinions, and so on.
Keywords: Development, Models, Disease, Nervous system, CNS disorders
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
