Cancer Gene Drives Pivotal Decision In Early Brain Development

A gene linked to pediatric brain tumors is an essential driver of early brain development, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found. The study, published in October in Cell Stem Cell, reveals that the neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) gene helps push stem cells down separate paths that lead them to become two major types of brain cells: support cells known as astrocytes and brain neurons. [click link for full article]

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Filed under: Neurology / Neuroscience on November 18th, 2007