Our brain is susceptible to various diseases that can emerge at distinct periods of life and affect diverse or specific structures and cell types. Neurodevelopmental diseases such as autism spectrum disorder, affect multiple cell types and brain structures during early life while aging disorders such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s emerge later. Parkinson’s disease affects primarily dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra while other aging disorders, like Alzheimer’s, have a broader spectrum. Increasing evidence brings together neurodevelopmental and aging disorders into a continuum due to converging molecular and pathological features. For example, fetuses exhibiting the Huntingtin mutation present abnormal brain development while the pathology emerges only later during mid or late human life.
Such a multifactorial nature of brain disorders demands integrative and novel approaches to unravel the shared and specific underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. The past decade has seen phenomenal technological advances, which now allow us to better understand the pathomechanisms at play in brain diseases, from the level of chromatin to genes to cell populations to organisms.
Advances in induced pluripotent stem cell technology, gene editing along with tissue engineering (i.e., organoids) now allow the modeling of brain disorders in a dish using human cells. Genetic models and artificial gene transfer techniques can also be used to model human disorders in other species such as drosophila, zebrafish, mouse, ferrets, or marmosets. Novel tissue clearing and 3D microscopy techniques resolve brain structures with enormous clarity revealing complex interactions and pathways implicated in diseases. The advent of various single-cell and low-cost omic methodologies allows further comprehension of the molecular dysregulations behind brain disorders at pan-cellular and pan-genomic scales. All these combined advances now lead to the identification of mechanisms dysregulated in brain diseases and dissect disturbances at micro and macro scales. These recent technologies will help in the future to dissect variations in disease manifestation across individuals potentially for the development of personalized medicine approaches.
In this Research Topic, we will compile original research and reviews that address advances in neuro-developmental or aging disorders independently or collectively. We aim to bring together advances and challenges in the field to improve our understanding of the biology of brain disorders.
Topics may include (but are not restricted to):
1. Reviews or mini-reviews that cover the latest research and technological advances in studying brain developmental and aging disorders.
2. Research advances in modeling brain disorders using in vivo, in vitro, or in silico strategies.
3. Research unraveling cellular, anatomical, or connectivity defects using advances in microscopy, optogenetics, electrophysiology, and labeling methodologies.
4. Research identifying or characterizing molecular pathways implicated in brain disorders using epigenomics, transcriptomics, or proteomics.
Subashika Govindan is holding shares in ARIMA Life Sciences and Gland Pharma Pvt Ltd. The affiliation is unrelated to the topic compilation present here.
Our brain is susceptible to various diseases that can emerge at distinct periods of life and affect diverse or specific structures and cell types. Neurodevelopmental diseases such as autism spectrum disorder, affect multiple cell types and brain structures during early life while aging disorders such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s emerge later. Parkinson’s disease affects primarily dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra while other aging disorders, like Alzheimer’s, have a broader spectrum. Increasing evidence brings together neurodevelopmental and aging disorders into a continuum due to converging molecular and pathological features. For example, fetuses exhibiting the Huntingtin mutation present abnormal brain development while the pathology emerges only later during mid or late human life.
Such a multifactorial nature of brain disorders demands integrative and novel approaches to unravel the shared and specific underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. The past decade has seen phenomenal technological advances, which now allow us to better understand the pathomechanisms at play in brain diseases, from the level of chromatin to genes to cell populations to organisms.
Advances in induced pluripotent stem cell technology, gene editing along with tissue engineering (i.e., organoids) now allow the modeling of brain disorders in a dish using human cells. Genetic models and artificial gene transfer techniques can also be used to model human disorders in other species such as drosophila, zebrafish, mouse, ferrets, or marmosets. Novel tissue clearing and 3D microscopy techniques resolve brain structures with enormous clarity revealing complex interactions and pathways implicated in diseases. The advent of various single-cell and low-cost omic methodologies allows further comprehension of the molecular dysregulations behind brain disorders at pan-cellular and pan-genomic scales. All these combined advances now lead to the identification of mechanisms dysregulated in brain diseases and dissect disturbances at micro and macro scales. These recent technologies will help in the future to dissect variations in disease manifestation across individuals potentially for the development of personalized medicine approaches.
In this Research Topic, we will compile original research and reviews that address advances in neuro-developmental or aging disorders independently or collectively. We aim to bring together advances and challenges in the field to improve our understanding of the biology of brain disorders.
Topics may include (but are not restricted to):
1. Reviews or mini-reviews that cover the latest research and technological advances in studying brain developmental and aging disorders.
2. Research advances in modeling brain disorders using in vivo, in vitro, or in silico strategies.
3. Research unraveling cellular, anatomical, or connectivity defects using advances in microscopy, optogenetics, electrophysiology, and labeling methodologies.
4. Research identifying or characterizing molecular pathways implicated in brain disorders using epigenomics, transcriptomics, or proteomics.
Subashika Govindan is holding shares in ARIMA Life Sciences and Gland Pharma Pvt Ltd. The affiliation is unrelated to the topic compilation present here.