Our human brain contains billions of neurons and glial cells grouped together into functional circuits. These cellular components of the brain are formed during development at distinct places, and at different time points. Neurogenesis, neural migration and initial wiring are controlled by molecular pathways in which neuron-environment or neuron-target recognition play a central role. In terms of factors mediating these recognition processes it is clear that a large number of structurally diverse surface receptors play a key role. Part of the research studied at research group of Developmental Neurobiology (Seuntjens lab) revolves around the study of Protocadherins (PCDH), which are large transmembrane proteins with tentative functions in cell-cell recognition, neural development and cancer metastasis in vertebrates.
PCDH have also been found to be expanded in coleoid cephalopods such as octopus, squid and cuttlefish. These are mollusks, but have large nervous systems containing half a billion neurons, which is in the same range as mammals. The lab studies how the nervous system of these animals develops, what cell type diversity is generated, how this brain generates particular behaviors, and to what extent genomic innovations like PCDH gene expansions are involved.
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English name: Research group of Developmental Neurobiology
Address:
Naamsestraat 61
box 2464
3000 Leuven
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1 Director: Head of the department 2 Marine scientist: Works in this research group and acts as (co-)author in at least one marine publication in the last 5 years. 3 Specialized personnel: Provides administrative or technical support to marine scientific research.
( 10 peer reviewed ) split up filter
 Baden, T.; Briseno, J.; Coffing, G.; Cohen-Bodenes, S.; Courtney, A.; Dickerson, D.; Dolen, G.; Fiorito, G.; Gestal, C.; Gustafson, T.; Heath-Heckman, E.; Hua, Q.; Imperadore, P.; Kimbara, R.; Krol, M.; Lajbner, Z.; Lichilin, N.; Macchi, F.; McCoy, M.J.; Nishiguchi, M.K.; Nyholm Spencer, S.; Otjacques, E.; Perez-Ferrer, P.A.; Ponte, G.; Pungor, J.R.; Rogers, T.F.; Rosenthal, J.J.C.; Rouressol, L.; Rubas, N.; Sanchez, G.; Santos, C.P.; Schultz, D.T.; Seuntjens, E.; Songco-Casey, J.O.; Stewart, I.E.; Styfhals, R.; Tuanapaya, S.; Vijayan, N.; Weissenbacher, A.; Zifcakova, L.; Schulz, G.; Weertman, W.; Simakov, O.; Albertin, C.B. (2023). Cephalopod-omics: emerging fields and technologies in cephalopod biology. Integrative and Comparative Biology 63(6): 1226-1239. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad087, more- Destanovic, D.; Schultz, D.T.; Styfhals, R.; Cruz, F.; Gomez-Garrido, J.; Gut, M.; Gut, I.; Fiorito, G.; Simakov, O.; Alioto, T.S.; Ponte, G.; Seuntjens, E. (2023). A chromosome-level reference genome for the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris (Cuvier, 1797). G3-Genes Genomes Genetics 13(12): jkad220. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkad220, more
- Styfhals, R.; Zolotarov, G.; Hulselmans, G.; Spanier, K.I.; Poovathingal, S.; Elagoz, A.M.; De Winter, S.; Deryckere, A.; Rajewsky, N.; Ponte, G.; Fiorito, G.; Aerts, S.; Seuntjens, E. (2022). Cell type diversity in a developing octopus brain. Nature Comm. 13(1): 7392. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35198-1, more
- Zolotarov, G.; Fromm, B.; Legnini, I.; Ayoub, S.; Polese, G.; Maselli, V.; Chabot, P.J.; Vinther, J.; Styfhals, R.; Seuntjens, E.; Di Cosmo, A.; Peterson, K.J.; Rajewsky, N. (2022). MicroRNAs are deeply linked to the emergence of the complex octopus brain. Science Advances 8(47): eadd9938. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add9938, more
- Deryckere, A.; Styfhals, R.; Elagoz, A.M.; Maes, G.E.; Seuntjens, E. (2021). Identification of neural progenitor cells and their progeny reveals long distance migration in the developing octopus brain. eLIFE 10: e69161. https://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.69161, more
- Deryckere, A.; Styfhals, R.; Vidal, E.A.G.; Almansa, E.; Seuntjens, E. (2020). A practical staging atlas to study embryonic development of Octopus vulgaris under controlled laboratory conditions. Bmc Developmental Biology 20(1): 7. https://hdl.handle.net/10.1186/s12861-020-00212-6, more
- Montanino, A.; Deryckere, A.; Famaey, N.; Seuntjens, E.; Kleiven, S. (2019). Mechanical characterization of squid giant axon membrane sheath and influence of the collagenous endoneurium on its properties. NPG Scientific Reports 9(1): 10 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45446-y, more
- Styfhals, R.; Seuntjens, E.; Simakov, O.; Sanges, R.; Fiorito, G. (2019). In silico identification and expression of protocadherin gene family in Octopus vulgaris. Frontiers in Physiology 9: 1905. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01905, more
- Zarrella, I.; Herten, K.; Maes, G.E.; Tai, S.; Yang, M.; Seuntjens, E.; Ritschard, E.A.; Zach, M.; Styfhals, R.; Sanges, R.; Simakov, O.; Ponte, G.; Fiorito, G. (2019). The survey and reference assisted assembly of the Octopus vulgaris genome. Scientific Data 6: 13. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0017-6, more
- Deryckere, A.; Seuntjens, E. (2018). The cephalopod large brain enigma: are conserved mechanisms of stem cell expansion the key? Frontiers in Physiology 9: 8. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01160, more
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