Meningeal cells contribute to cortical neurogenesis in postnatal brain

This project focuses on the meninges as a possible source of neurogenic precursors, based on previous findings that the meninges hosts subsets of non-parenchymal multipotent cells, that non-parenchymal Pdgfrb positive progenitors isolated from the meninges can differentiate into neurons without cell division in vitro and can give rise to neurons after transplantation in the postnatal brain in vivo.  In this project, I will characterize this meningeal cell population in vivo, develop and optimize techniques to label and visualize these cells, and apply the labeling and other phenotyping procedures to define when the cells originate, whether and how they migrate to the cortex, and define their destination with respect to location, migratory pathway, cell identity, and function in the neural network of the brain.