One brain, many genomes: Somatic mutation and genomic variability in human cerebral cortex

On 27 April 2016, Christopher Walsh reviewed recent work on ‘somatic mutations’ — de novo mutations that are present in some brain cells but not in all cells of the body — in several neurological conditions associated with intellectual disability and seizures.

His talk was part of the Simons Foundation Autism Research lecture series.

About the Lecture

Christopher Walsh and his team are interested in genetic mechanisms of cerebral cortical development and abnormalities of cortical development resulting in intellectual disability, autism and epilepsy. The lab pioneered the analysis of recessive causes of autism by studying children with autism whose parents share ancestry.

In this lecture, Walsh reviewed recent work on ‘somatic mutations’ — de novo mutations that are present in some brain cells but not in all cells of the body — in several neurological conditions associated with intellectual disability and seizures. His talk also covered the extent to which somatic mutations are an inevitable part of normal brain development, such that the neurons in the human brain are a tapestry of cells with distinct genomes. The relevance of somatic mutations to autism was also discussed.