Pierre Mattar

My research is primarily focused on understanding how the cellular diversity of the nervous system is generated, focusing on the mammalian retina and neocortex. In our lab, we use genetic and genomic approaches to try to decipher how the developmental potential of neural progenitors is encoded. During neural development, progenitor cells progressively modify their potential in order to diversify their output. Focusing on the retina, we identified transcription factors that regulate the competence states of neural progenitors, which are homologous to genes that act analogously in the Drosophila CNS (PMID: 25654255). Using a variety of 'omics' technologies, we identified a network of chromatin remodellers as the key co-factors that mediate these effects (PMID: 33594190). Interestingly, this network of chromatin remodelling proteins is not prominently associated with retinal dystrophy, but is very prominently linked to human neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder (PMID: 33946340). While we continue to work on retinal development, we are also have projects examining the requirement for chromatin remodelling complexes in the developing neocortex. We are currently using technologies such as multi-seq and cut&run-seq to understand how chromatin remodelling complexes regulate progenitor potential. We are also interested in roles for these complexes in differentiated neurons - particularly with regards to higher order genome organization. We have previously linked chromatin remodelling complexes to the unique nuclear organization of rod photoreceptor cells (PMID: 30072429 ). We continue to investigate mechanisms regulating rod nuclear organization, and are very interested to examine the higher order nuclear organization of neural progenitors.