Peter Burbach
Position: Professor of Molecular Neuroscience
E-mail: j.p.h.burbach@umcutrecht.nl
Phone: (+31) (0)88 75 68848
Phone secretariat: (+31) (0)88 75 68810
I am interested in molecular mechanisms of brain development. We want to know how specific neuronal properties are specified and what molecular networks are involved. We have recently started a new research line to search for such networks by identifying genes responsible for neurodevelopmental defects in man, specifically in autism. Gene expression studies in the embryonic brain and gene function studies in neuronal cultures and mouse models are presently emphasized.
RESEARCH
Aims:
Brain disorders like autism and mental retardation involve neurodevelopmental defects and are highly genetic in origin. These disorders are starting points of genetic screens to identify specific genes and biological mechanisms that are important for brain development. The aims of our research are to delineate how specific neuronal properties are specified and what molecular networks are involved.
Experimental strategy and key results:
Our experimental strategy to identification neurodevelopmental genes potentially responsible for causing autism is based on genome-wide analysis of copy number variation and analysis of gene contents by bioinformatics, expression studies and gene function studies. These studies are carried out in collaboration with the Department of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry and the Department of Biomedical Genetics.
RECENT KEY PUBLICATIONS
1: Burbach JPH, van der Zwaag, B. Contact in the genetics of autism and schizophrenia. Trends Neurosci. 2009 32:69-72.
2: Jacobs FM, van Erp S, van der Linden AJ, von Oerthel L, Burbach JP, Smidt MP. Pitx3 potentiates Nurr1 in dopamine neuron terminal differentiation through release of SMRT-mediated repression.Development. 2009 136:531-540.
3: Jacobs FM, Smits SM, Noorlander CW, von Oerthel L, van der Linden AJ, Burbach JPH, Smidt MP. Retinoic acid counteracts developmental defects in the substantia nigra caused by Pitx3 deficiency. Development. 2007 134:2673-2684.
4: Smidt MP, Burbach JPH. How to make a mesodiencephalic dopaminergic neuron. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2007 8:21-32. Erratum in: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2007 8:160.
5: Burbach JPH, Smidt MP. Molecular programming of stem cells into mesodiencephalic dopaminergic neurons. Trends Neurosci. 2006 Nov;29(11):601-3.
