Through the integrated and coordinated development mechanism, Guangdong will accelerate the development of new quality productivity with scientific and technological innovation as the core element.
"In the next step, it is suggested that the two science cities in Guangdong should continue to sum up and explore successful operational experience, expand financing channels, strengthen the funding guarantee of the previous investment,
and promote the smooth transformation of scientific and technological achievements to the industry." At the same time, we will further stimulate the enthusiasm of scientific researchers to carry out scientific and technological innovation,
and attract more outstanding scientific and technological talents to join and carry out scientific and technological innovation. At the same time, we will strengthen the platform role of the Science City and continue to carry out original and basic research." Wei Qijia thinks.Uncover the human body "command", research to draw the genetic map of early brain development
In the 19th century, Santiago Ramon Cajal, the father of modern neuroscience, compared the brain to "a forest of a hundred billion trees."
In this complex "forest," there are about 86 billion neurons connected to trillions of synapses. Although many important discoveries have been made about the brain, our understanding of it is still only the tip of the iceberg when compared to this complex forest.
Now, scientists are further unraveling the mystery of the body's "headquarters" - the early genetic development of the brain.
Recently, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden carried out a systematic comprehensive study of the development of different brain regions throughout the brain, mapping the genetic map of early brain development in the first 3 months of human embryo development (6-13 weeks of pregnancy). The paper is in Nature.
The early development of the human brain is complex and delicate
In fact, the early development of the human brain is a complex and delicate process involving the interaction of multiple stages and multiple cell types.
starting from the 33rd day of embryo formation until about 20 years of age. The whole process includes two stages, pre-birth and post-birth, in which the fetal brain development before birth lasts about 40 weeks, and each stage has significant changes.
"That's a very different time span than a mayfly that lives and dies in one day." Liu Shiping said.
As vertebrates, human organ development follows certain rules. Brain development begins in the embryo's ectoderm, which is convoluted inward to form the neural tube structure. The segmented neural tube is the starting point of development of the central nervous system.
The so-called brain is the last fully developed structure of the nervous system. The neural tube then develops into the brain, which can be divided into forebrain, midbrain, posterior brain, and terminal spinal cord regions according to its anterior-posterior position.
The development of neural tube into brain involves the proliferation, differentiation and migration of neural stem cells and other cytological processes. In this process, the fetal brain will build synaptic circuits, and basic functions such as hearing and vision will gradually develop.
"The process of human brain development is not only long, but also special. The human brain has a lot of wrinkles, and as development progresses, the connections between brain regions become more subtle." Liu added, "Our brain is like a sophisticated biochemical factory, finely regulated and assembled at the level of energy metabolism, molecular and cellular functions."
Discover the diversity of brain cells
With the rapid development of genomics technology, especially the application of single-cell omics technology and spatiotemporal omics technology, scientists have new tools and new methods to study early brain development.
Liu Shiping said that traditional genomics studies are usually based on a mixture of many cells, and researchers get an average result for all cells. Single-cell omics allows scientists to perform gene expression analysis on individual cells,
meaning researchers can see exactly what gene activity is in each cell at any given point in time during brain development. This technique reveals the differences between cells, helping researchers understand how cells differentiate into different types of neurons or glial cells.
It is on the basis of monocytomics that researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have mapped the genetics of early brain development.
