Takemura Lab Seminar: Vaidehi Natu (Stanford University)
Date & Time
Nov 16th (Tue), 2021, 10AM-11AM (Japan Standard Time)
Venue
Zoom online
Speaker
Vaidehi Natu
Department of Psychology
Stanford University
Title & Abstract
Title: Development of the infant sensory-motor cortex during early days of human life
Abstract: Development of cortical tissue during infancy is critical for the emergence of typical brain functions in cortex. However, how cortical microstructure develops during infancy remains unknown. We measured the longitudinal development of cortex from newborns to six-months-old infants using quantitative imaging of cortical microstructure. Our findings show that infants' cortex undergoes profound microstructural tissue growth during the first six months of human life. Comparison of postnatal to prenatal transcriptomic gene expression data reveals that myelination and synaptic processes are dominant contributors to this postnatal microstructural tissue growth. Importantly, our findings propose a hypothesis that cortical myelination is a key factor in cortical development during early infancy, which has important implications for diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders and delays in infants.