Investigating the role of Lgl1 function in cortical development

Single-cell genetic dissection using the mosaic analysis with double markers (MADM) technique

Molecular
MADM
Genetics
RNAseq
Histology
Using Mosaic Analysis with Double Markers (MADM) to separate tissue-level and cell-intrinsic roles of Lgl1 in cortical development. Neuron, 2017.

Confocal micrographs of MADM mouse tissue in a control (left) and Lgl-/+ (right) mice.

Highlights

  • Mouse Genetics: understanding the mechanism behind the genetic tool MADM
  • Image Analysis Pipeline tracking red, green and yellow MADM cells in confocal micrographs
  • Confocal Microscopy
  • Histology preparation of histology sections for imaging

Overview

This project uncovered two distinct roles of the protein Lgl1, a protein involved in regulating intracellular polarity, in regulating brain development both at the community level (tissue) and intrinsically within single cells. This project was made possible due to the features of the genetic tool MADM (Mosaic Analysis with Double Markers) to create both sparse and global knockout of the Lgl1 gene within tissues.

I started working on this project during my summer intership at the Institute of Science and Technology, Austria (ISTA) under the supervision of Dr Robert Beattie in the group of Professor Simon Hippenmeyer. I learnt a lot about mouse genetics, histology techniques, confocal microscopy and mouse husbandry during my time in the Hippenmeyer group.

Acknowledgements

This project was carried out under the supervision of Dr Robert Beattie, then a postdoctoral researcher in Prof Simon Hippenmeyer’s group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA).