About the Lab
The Nowakowski Lab at UCSF is dedicated to understanding how genetic mutations underlie the pathobiology of nervous system disorders. We take advantage of cutting-edge genomic technologies to study the human brain at unprecedented resolution.
We are based in the Department of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Our Goals
We specifically seek to:
- Identify molecular programs regulating cell type distinctions in the human nervous system, and to identify changes in disease.
- Uncover the regulatory networks that control stem cell differentiation that could be utilized to increase the precision and safety of stem cell-based therapies.
- Develop new experimentally tractable models of human disease that enable interrogation of disease mechanisms and discovery of new therapeutic opportunities.
Research Areas
- Developing tools for human neuroscience — Harnessing technologies that allow us to manipulate cells in the human brain with potential to become next-generation treatments for brain disorders.
- Epigenetic mechanisms of brain development — Uncovering molecular mechanisms of gene expression regulation through functional genomics.
- Development of the thalamus — Applying unbiased genomic technologies, spatial transcriptomics, and in vitro modeling to understand thalamic development.
- Developmental lineage relationships in the brain — Applying massively parallel molecular barcoding strategies to uncover cellular diversity during development.
- Neuroimmune interactions in developing brain and disease — Understanding the roles of immune cells in protecting the developing brain.
Collaborative Research
We actively participate in: NIH BRAIN Initiative, NIMH PsychENCODE, SSPsyGene NIMH Consortium, Braingeneers, PCMI - Psychiatric Cell Map Initiative, and Pediatric Networks for the Human Cell Atlas.