Notch Lineages in the CNS

The Notch signaling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved cell interaction mechanism that is active in a wide range of organisms and tissues, is associated with early lineage decisions, and affects CNS development at many different levels, including neuronal progenitor maintenance, cell fate decisions between neuronal and glial lineages, terminally differentiated neuron behavior, as well as patterning of cellular fields. We are investigating cellular lineages that depend on Notch activity in the developing and adult brain by utilizing a unique set of transgenic mice generated in the Artavanis-Tsakonas laboratory.