Polleux Lab

Circuit development, evolution and maintenance

Research

Research in the Polleux laboratory focuses on three important questions relevant to the brain

Our work provides new insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of brain connectivity and has significant implications for our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying socially-devastating neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

Cell Biology of Neuron

What are the cellular and molecular mechanisms patterning and connectivity of cortical circuits during mammalian development?

Evolution

What are the genetic mechanisms that led to the evolution of human cortical circuits?

Aging

What are the signaling mechanisms underlying synaptic loss during early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease?

About the PI

Dr. Franck Polleux did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, (France) where he obtained his Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 1997. He then joined the laboratory of Dr. Anirvan Ghosh at Johns Hopkins University for his post-doctoral training.

In 2002, Dr Polleux was hired as an Assistant Professor in the Neuroscience Center and Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill where he became an Associate Professor in 2008. In August 2010, he joined The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. In November 2013, he was recruited as a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University to join the new Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind, Brain, Behavior Institute.

Throughout his career, Dr Polleux has focused on the identification of the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal development in the mammalian brain. More recently, his lab started studying the genetic basis of human brain evolution as well as the signaling pathways underlying synaptic loss during early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease progression.

Watch Franck's talk on World Wide Neuro

Watch Franck’s talk on mitoTalks

[CV]

  • Individual mouse cortical layer 5 pyramidal neuron from a Thy1-YFP line H transgenic mouse imaged by confocal microscopy.

    Jaeda Coutinho-Budd

  • Layer 2/3 cortical pyramidal neuron electroporated ex utero to express a cell filler (mCherry- mangeta) and a presynaptic marker vGlut1-HA (green).

    Tommy L. Lewis

  • In utero electroporation of Cre (magenta) in CA1 Pyramidal Neurons (green) of Robo2F/F mice.

    Heike Blockus

  • In Vitro Rabv Cortical neuronal culture in which presynaptic inputs (red, tdTomato) to a single cortical neuron (green) were visualized using rabies virus monosynaptic tracing.

    Ewoud Schmidt

  • A cortical layer 2/3 neuron at 21 days in vitro labeled by ex utero electroporation with fluorescent marker for spine visualization.

    Heike Blockus

  • Dendritic segments of mouse cortical pyramidal neuron ex utero electroporated to express tdTomato and SEP-GluA1.

    Kevin Gonzalez

  • In utero electroporation targeting Layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons of the somatosensory cortex with tdtomato (magenta). VGLUT2 (green) was used as a marker to visualize the Barrel Columns in the somatosensory cortex.

    Sergio Bernal-Garcia

  • Long despised and set aside, astrocytes fulfill important functions of repair, regulation, maintenance of tissue, glutamatergic transmission, they also contact the blood capillaries with their “endfeet” .

    Eugenie PEZE-HEIDSIECK (she/her)

  • Using in utero electroporation we overexpressed in cortical pyramidal cells of layer 2/3 the human CROCC gene known to be specifically duplicated in the human lineage. In green, the protein encoded by the CROCC gene called rootlet, and in magenta the primary cilia, tiny organelles protruding from the cell surface whose functions in the adult brain are still unknown.

    Martina PROIETTI ONORI (she/her)

  • Glia comes from the Greek and means “glue”. Microglia come from the immune system, they hunt down and “eat” damaged neurons or fight infections. They also play a crucial role in the elimination of synapses and therefore in the communication of neurons.

    Carlos DIAZ SALAZAR ALBELDA (he/him)

  • Contralateral callosal axons (mVenus – green) following in utero electroporation (E15 to P21). Section counterstained with Cux2 labeling layer 2-4 (red) and Hoechst (nuclei in blue).

    Randal Hand

  • In vivo 2-photon image of intermingled Pdzd8 WT and KO pyramidal neurons expressing calcium indicator GCaMP6f in hippocampal area CA1. Knockout neurons express the red mCherry fluorescent reporter

    Justin O'Hare