Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center are determined to solve the molecular mystery of what makes us human. In a recent study, they compared brain...
Graduate student Emre Caglayan and lead scientist Genevieve Konopka stand in their lab at the Pickens Biomedical Building on the campus of UT Southwestern, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, in Dallas.The human brain is three times bigger than a chimp’s and more spherical than a Neanderthal’s. Within a maze of bumps and grooves,among humans, chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys. Human brains had more of a kind of cell that may help them adapt based on new experience and heal from injury.
Konopka also saw a difference in oligodendrocytes between human and chimp brains. She realized this support crew could play an important role in both brain disease and human brain evolution. Using this technology, Konopka focused on a part of the brain located in what’s called the posterior cingulate cortex. This part is implicated in schizophrenia and is associated with the way we think about ourselves. Konopka said her lab is the first to apply single-cell technology to this region of the brain.Her lab compared oligodendrocyte amounts and gene activity in human, chimp and rhesus monkey brain tissue.
Her lab also found that a gene called FOXP2, which is associated with language development in humans, had higher expression in two types of human neurons. Konopka said the human-specific increase could contribute to the language of human thoughts.
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