Module 4B: Using Organoids and Single Cell RNA Sequencing Approaches to Study Human Brain Development

In this presentation, Aparna Bhaduri and Madeline Andrews will:

• Describe human cortical development and relevant cell types.
• Introduce cortical organoid models.
• Introduce single-cell RNA sequencing approaches.
• Provide a summary of findings from organoid studies using RNA sequencing and organoid models.
• Describe scRNAseq methods to better understand cell type.
• Compare organoid and primary cortical cells at a single cell level.

Learning Objectives

After watching this presentation, participants at all career stages should be able to:

• Explain how to use single cell RNA sequencing and neural organoids to approach questions on brain development and disease.
• Identify resources available to evaluate your own RNA sequencing applications.

Speakers

Aparna Bhaduri, PhD

Aparna Bhaduri is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Arnold Kriegstein at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, a part of the University of California, San Francisco. She received her doctoral degree in cancer biology at Stanford University and her undergraduate degrees from Rice University. Her long-term interests are in understanding how stem cells give rise to the human brain during cortical development, and how aspects of these developmental programs can be hijacked in cancers such as glioblastoma. In order to explore these questions, she uses single cell genomics, informatic analysis, and organoid models to better understand normal development and cancer progression.

Madeline Andrews, PhD

Madeline Andrews is a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Arnold Kriegstein at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, a part of the University of California, San Francisco. Andrews is a developmental neurobiologist who uses stem cell models to study human cortical development. She currently uses brain organoids and other in vitro model systems to better understand cell signaling and fate specification during neurogenesis. She received her Bachelor of Science in psychology from Arizona State University and her PhD in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles.