Genes for a better brain found

Scientists from Harvard Medical School and the California Institute of Technology discovered a gene has been guiding the formation of nervous systems since the first fishlike animals with backbones appeared on Earth. Another gene, which they also discovered and cloned, evolved about the time that the brains of these vertebrates got larger than those of birds. Druing the research process, the neuroscientists were surprised to learn that their theory about how central nervous systems (brains, spines, and eyes) develop in everything from mice to humans was wrong. This new knowledge has implications for better understanding of human diseases such as multiple sclerosis, mental retardation, and brain cancer. It also increases the chance that adult stem cells, which humans carry with them throughout their lives, might someday be used for treatment of these infirmities. The researchers involved in the discoveries were Charles Stiles, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston; David Rowitch, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School; Richard Lu, a postdoctoral fellow in Stiles' lab; and David Anderson at the California Institute of Technology.