John Rubenstein, MD, PhD

Professor
M_Psych-Core-Rsch
415-476-7862

Genetic Regulation of Forebrain Development

The embryonic neural tube differentiates into diverse structures depending upon their spatial coordinates within the embryo. The forebrain, which is at the rostral end of the neural tube, differentiates into the cerebral cortex, the basal ganglia and other components, each with distinct histologies and functions. Our laboratory is interested in studying the genes that regulate regional specification and differentiation of the mammalian forebrain particularly within the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia.

We are investigating the inductive mechanisms that pattern the neural plate and neural tube by analyzing the phenotypes of mice with mutations in genes encoding patterning molecules (e.g. SHH and FGF8) or encoding transcription factors that transduce patterning signals (e.g. Coup, Gsx, Nkx and Pax6).

To study neurogenesis, differentiation and migration within the forebrain we have been analyzing mouse mutants for several transcription factor genes that are expressed in the primordia of the basal ganglia (e.g. Dlx1, Lhx6, Npas1, and Zfhx1b) or cerebral cortex (e.g. COUP, Pbx1 and Tbr1). These studies are providing insights into the specification and differentiation of distinct types of neurons (Glutamatergic, GABAergic and Cholinergic). Within the basal ganglia, where GABAergic neurons are produced, subsets of these cells migrate tangentially to different destinations including the cerebral cortex. We are investigating the regulation of these tangential migrations and have evidence that neuropilin-semaphorin and cytokine signaling plays a key role in this process.

Finally, we are beginning to study the mechanisms that regulate the formation of circuitry within the forebrain. Our long-term aims are to understand the genetic underpinnings of forebrain evolution and function and to help elucidate mechanisms underlying human neurodevelopmental disorders. 

Lab Members

Jia Hu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Susan Lindtner, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Magnus Sandberg, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Daniel Vogt, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Athena Ypsilanti, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Pei-Rung Wu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Siavash Fazel Darbandi, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Anna Rubin, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

James Price
Graduate Student
[email protected]

Ling-Lin Pai
Neuroscience Graduate Student
[email protected]

Carol Kim
Postdoctoral Fellow
[email protected]

Susan Yu
Administrative Staff
[email protected]

Lab Website

 

Academic community service and committee membership:

NS Student Advisors/Student Progress committee, Advisor to first-year neuroscience students, and occasionally more senior students, Psychiatry Appointments and Promotions Committee

Publications

De novo variants in the RNU4-2 snRNA cause a frequent neurodevelopmental syndrome.

Chen Y, Dawes R, Kim HC, Ljungdahl A, Stenton SL, Walker S, Lord J, Lemire G, Martin-Geary AC, Ganesh VS, Ma J, Ellingford JM, Delage E, D'Souza EN, Dong S, Adams DR, Allan K, Bakshi M, Baldwin EE, Berger SI, Bernstein JA, Bhatnagar I, Blair E, Brown NJ, Burrage LC, Chapman K, Coman DJ, Compton AG, Cunningham CA, D'Souza P, Danecek P, Délot EC, Dias KR, Elias ER, Elmslie F, Evans CA, Ewans L, Ezell K, Fraser JL, Gallacher L, Genetti CA, Goriely A, Grant CL, Haack T, Higgs JE, Hinch AG, Hurles ME, Kuechler A, Lachlan KL, Lalani SR, Lecoquierre F, Leitão E, Fevre AL, Leventer RJ, Liebelt JE, Lindsay S, Lockhart PJ, Ma AS, Macnamara EF, Mansour S, Maurer TM, Mendez HR, Metcalfe K, Montgomery SB, Moosajee M, Nassogne MC, Neumann S, O'Donoghue M, O'Leary M, Palmer EE, Pattani N, Phillips J, Pitsava G, Pysar R, Rehm HL, Reuter CM, Revencu N, Riess A, Rius R, Rodan L, Roscioli T, Rosenfeld JA, Sachdev R, Shaw-Smith CJ, Simons C, Sisodiya SM, Snell P, St Clair L, Stark Z, Stewart HS, Tan TY, Tan NB, Temple SEL, Thorburn DR, Tifft CJ, Uebergang E, VanNoy GE, Vasudevan P, Vilain E, Viskochil DH, Wedd L, Wheeler MT, White SM, Wojcik M, Wolfe LA, Wolfenson Z, Wright CF, Xiao C, Zocche D, Rubenstein JL, Markenscoff-Papadimitriou E, Fica SM, Baralle D, Depienne C, MacArthur DG, Howson JMM, Sanders SJ, O'Donnell-Luria A, Whiffin N

De novo variants in the non-coding spliceosomal snRNA gene RNU4-2 are a frequent cause of syndromic neurodevelopmental disorders.

Chen Y, Dawes R, Kim HC, Stenton SL, Walker S, Ljungdahl A, Lord J, Ganesh VS, Ma J, Martin-Geary AC, Lemire G, D'Souza EN, Dong S, Ellingford JM, Adams DR, Allan K, Bakshi M, Baldwin EE, Berger SI, Bernstein JA, Brown NJ, Burrage LC, Chapman K, Compton AG, Cunningham CA, D'Souza P, Délot EC, Dias KR, Elias ER, Evans CA, Ewans L, Ezell K, Fraser JL, Gallacher L, Genetti CA, Grant CL, Haack T, Kuechler A, Lalani SR, Leitão E, Fevre AL, Leventer RJ, Liebelt JE, Lockhart PJ, Ma AS, Macnamara EF, Maurer TM, Mendez HR, Montgomery SB, Nassogne MC, Neumann S, O'Leary M, Palmer EE, Phillips J, Pitsava G, Pysar R, Rehm HL, Reuter CM, Revencu N, Riess A, Rius R, Rodan L, Roscioli T, Rosenfeld JA, Sachdev R, Simons C, Sisodiya SM, Snell P, Clair L, Stark Z, Tan TY, Tan NB, Temple SE, Thorburn DR, Tifft CJ, Uebergang E, VanNoy GE, Vilain E, Viskochil DH, Wedd L, Wheeler MT, White SM, Wojcik M, Wolfe LA, Wolfenson Z, Xiao C, Zocche D, Rubenstein JL, Markenscoff-Papadimitriou E, Fica SM, Baralle D, Depienne C, MacArthur DG, Howson JM, Sanders SJ, O'Donnell-Luria A, Whiffin N

Optimizing Nervous System-Specific Gene Targeting with Cre Driver Lines: Prevalence of Germline Recombination and Influencing Factors.

Luo L, Ambrozkiewicz MC, Benseler F, Chen C, Dumontier E, Falkner S, Furlanis E, Gomez AM, Hoshina N, Huang WH, Hutchison MA, Itoh-Maruoka Y, Lavery LA, Li W, Maruo T, Motohashi J, Pai EL, Pelkey KA, Pereira A, Philips T, Sinclair JL, Stogsdill JA, Traunmüller L, Wang J, Wortel J, You W, Abumaria N, Beier KT, Brose N, Burgess HA, Cepko CL, Cloutier JF, Eroglu C, Goebbels S, Kaeser PS, Kay JN, Lu W, Luo L, Mandai K, McBain CJ, Nave KA, Prado MAM, Prado VF, Rothstein J, Rubenstein JLR, Saher G, Sakimura K, Sanes JR, Scheiffele P, Takai Y, Umemori H, Verhage M, Yuzaki M, Zoghbi HY, Kawabe H, Craig AM

Genome-wide de novo risk score implicates promoter variation in autism spectrum disorder.

eLife

An JY, Lin K, Zhu L, Werling DM, Dong S, Brand H, Wang HZ, Zhao X, Schwartz GB, Collins RL, Currall BB, Dastmalchi C, Dea J, Duhn C, Gilson MC, Klei L, Liang L, Markenscoff-Papadimitriou E, Pochareddy S, Ahituv N, Buxbaum JD, Coon H, Daly MJ, Kim YS, Marth GT, Neale BM, Quinlan AR, Rubenstein JL, Sestan N, State MW, Willsey AJ, Talkowski ME, Devlin B, Roeder K, Sanders SJ

An analytical framework for whole-genome sequence association studies and its implications for autism spectrum disorder.

Werling DM, Brand H, An JY, Stone MR, Zhu L, Glessner JT, Collins RL, Dong S, Layer RM, Markenscoff-Papadimitriou E, Farrell A, Schwartz GB, Wang HZ, Currall BB, Zhao X, Dea J, Duhn C, Erdman CA, Gilson MC, Yadav R, Handsaker RE, Kashin S, Klei L, Mandell JD, Nowakowski TJ, Liu Y, Pochareddy S, Smith L, Walker MF, Waterman MJ, He X, Kriegstein AR, Rubenstein JL, Sestan N, McCarroll SA, Neale BM, Coon H, Willsey AJ, Buxbaum JD, Daly MJ, State MW, Quinlan AR, Marth GT, Roeder K, Devlin B, Talkowski ME, Sanders SJ

Ultraconserved Enhancers Are Required for Normal Development.

M_Anatomy-General

Dickel DE, Ypsilanti AR, Pla R, Zhu Y, Barozzi I, Mannion BJ, Khin YS, Fukuda-Yuzawa Y, Plajzer-Frick I, Pickle CS, Lee EA, Harrington AN, Pham QT, Garvin TH, Kato M, Osterwalder M, Akiyama JA, Afzal V, Rubenstein JLR, Pennacchio LA, Visel A

A high-resolution spatiotemporal atlas of gene expression of the developing mouse brain.

Thompson CL, Ng L, Menon V, Martinez S, Lee CK, Glattfelder K, Sunkin SM, Henry A, Lau C, Dang C, Garcia-Lopez R, Martinez-Ferre A, Pombero A, Rubenstein JLR, Wakeman WB, Hohmann J, Dee N, Sodt AJ, Young R, Smith K, Nguyen TN, Kidney J, Kuan L, Jeromin A, Kaykas A, Miller J, Page D, Orta G, Bernard A, Riley Z, Smith S, Wohnoutka P, Hawrylycz MJ, Puelles L, Jones AR

New insights into the classification and nomenclature of cortical GABAergic interneurons.

DeFelipe J, López-Cruz PL, Benavides-Piccione R, Bielza C, Larrañaga P, Anderson S, Burkhalter A, Cauli B, Fairén A, Feldmeyer D, Fishell G, Fitzpatrick D, Freund TF, González-Burgos G, Hestrin S, Hill S, Hof PR, Huang J, Jones EG, Kawaguchi Y, Kisvárday Z, Kubota Y, Lewis DA, Marín O, Markram H, McBain CJ, Meyer HS, Monyer H, Nelson SB, Rockland K, Rossier J, Rubenstein JL, Rudy B, Scanziani M, Shepherd GM, Sherwood CC, Staiger JF, Tamás G, Thomson A, Wang Y, Yuste R, Ascoli GA

A high-resolution enhancer atlas of the developing telencephalon.

M_Anatomy-General

Visel A, Taher L, Girgis H, May D, Golonzhka O, Hoch RV, McKinsey GL, Pattabiraman K, Silberberg SN, Blow MJ, Hansen DV, Nord AS, Akiyama JA, Holt A, Hosseini R, Phouanenavong S, Plajzer-Frick I, Shoukry M, Afzal V, Kaplan T, Kriegstein AR, Rubin EM, Ovcharenko I, Pennacchio LA, Rubenstein JL

Workshop on schizophrenia.

Barondes SH, Alberts BM, Andreasen NC, Bargmann C, Benes F, Goldman-Rakic P, Gottesman I, Heinemann SF, Jones EG, Kirschner M, Lewis D, Raff M, Roses A, Rubenstein J, Snyder S, Watson SJ, Weinberger DR, Yolken RH