Jack McIntyre

• BSc (Hons) Physiological Sciences
• The origins of interneurons in the human cerebral cortex

Connecting neurones (interneurons) play a vital role in all of our thought processes and failure in development can lead to conditions such as epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia. In mice it was discovered that they migrate into the outer area of the brain called the cortex from other areas of the brain called the ganglionic eminence (GE). However in humans we believe they are born in the cortex but it’s still up for debate.

I isolated some stem cells from these areas in human fetal brains and allowed them to grow into neurones in the lab. I then tagged them with specific proteins with fluorescent markers to identify interneurons and if they came from the cortex or the GE. I then counted them using a fluorescent microscope and performed statistical analysis to check the significance of my results.

Funding source: Anatomical Society

Supervisor: Dr Gavin Clowry