Fame Lab Home

Vision

Harnessing interactions between brain development and CSF with the goal of improving outcomes for pediatric neurological diseases.

Mission

To cultivate an interdisciplinary team of scientists committed to generating more robust knowledge of the crosstalk between the CSF, choroid plexus, and the neural stem cell niche during brain development.

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Aims

Our group aims to:
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1) Fill the knowledge gap that exists in understanding active roles of CSF during brain development using modern neuroscience approaches.
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2) Rigorously study how the emerging brain and early choroid plexus maintain CSF.
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3) Discover mechanisms for pediatric diseases of CSF dysregulation including hydrocephalus and choroid plexus tumors.

4) Collaborate with our clinical colleagues to harness the CSF to support developing neural stem cells in health and disease.

5) Partner with patient groups and interested organizations to innovatively apply our discoveries to new important questions.
6) Develop and share tools to analyze and access embryonic CSF and brain progenitors and stem cells.

RESEARCH

We are fascinated with how the brain is built during development. Many components work together to accomplish this feat including: transcriptional signals within developing progenitor cells, the metabolic state of the brain and body, and interactions with the surrounding fluid environment of the brain (CSF).

Mentoring

Research and teaching inform each other. We are lifelong learners. As educators and neuroscientists, we use research into brain function to inform the learning process.

CSF & Choroid Plexus

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is the environment in which the brain develops and functions. We are enthralled with the underpinnings of CSF generation, composition, and function, especially early in brain development. In our study of CSF we are interested how the CSF supports brain development and CSF source tissues, including choroid plexus.

Key publications:

>Choroid plexus and CSF show diurnal variations and form an important bridge between body and brain rhythmicity. Published in Nature Communications. 2023.

> Metabolic and genetic underpinnings of choroid plexus water and ion modulatory machinery during early postnatal development and roles for this system in long-term brain morphology and fluid distribution. Published in Nature Communications. 2021.

> Mechanisms of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) balance/ movement in Danio rerio (zebrafish) larvae with new method to reliably image and quantify CSF flow rates and volume changes in developing larval brain in vivo. Published in Fluids and Barrier of the CNS, 2016.

> Review on CSF during development published in Developmental Cell. 2020.

Translation / Metabolism

Critical developmental stem cell transitions are accompanied by a suite of changes in progenitors themselves including in their metabolism and ability to synthesize proteins. We focus on metabolism as a developmental signal and in disease.

Key publications:

> Choroid plexus and CSF metabolites show diurnal rhythmicity. Published in Nature Communications. 2023

> Review on how metabolism controls brain development. Published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2021

> Generation of mouse model of a pediatric choroid plexus tumor for comparative study with patient choroid plexus carcinoma (CPC) and choroid plexus papilloma (CPP). Published in Am. J. Path. 2018.

> Use of Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP) to investigate developmental ‘translatome’ of the developing choroid plexus across time in mouse. Investigated metabolic underpinnings of choroid plexus water and ion secretory machinery over postnatal development. Published in Nature Communications. 2021.

> Changes in the protein translation machinery in the neuroepithelium before and after neural tube closure (NTC). Published in eLife, 2018. Metabolic changes over this NTC specification timeframe. Published in Development, 2019.

Cortical Development

We are passionate about understanding and harnessing the progenitor cells that generate the brain. These neural stem cells have the capacity to generate multiple cell types in the brain.

Key publications:

> Molecular developmental controls over callosal projection neuron (CPN) subtype identity acquisition in the mammalian neocortex including and in-depth functional analysis of genes controlling CPN development. Investigation of functions for Cited2, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, 2016; for Cav-1 published in eNeuro.

> Identified novel molecular subpopulations of CPN and collaborated to initiate a comparative analysis between mouse and macaque. Identification published in The Journal of Neuroscience, 2009; comparative analysis published in Cerebral Cortex, 2017.

> Investigated establishment of neocortical developmental progenitor domains through study of Sox6 function. Published in Nature Neuroscience, 2009.

NewsFeed

-10/2/2024: Sabrina Olivares joins the lab as a Stanford University Undergraduate researcher.
-9/30/2024: Sophia Mirda in the Developmental Biology Graduate program joins the lab for her thesis work! Welcome Sophia!
-9/24/2024: We welcome undergraduate Ania Noguera from Foothill College to the lab.
-9/20/2024: We welcome Rue Aye Chan Moe into the lab as a member of the CCOP program and mentored by Arjun.
-8/20/2024: The Fame lab is honored to receive our first R01 NIH research grant from the NIMH.
-8/13/2024: Arjun and Ryann shared the lab’s work at the International Conference on Neural Tube Closure Defects (NTD) in Vancouver.
-8/16/2024: Team Hydro completed another successful Escape from Alcatraz Swim Fundraiser and Ryann escaped ‘the rock’ once again!
-7/27/2024: Ryann shared the lab’s work at The Neurodevelopment Gordon Conference in Barga, Italy.
-7/8/2024: The lab is grateful for the support of the Wu Tsai Synthetic Neurobiology award in collaboration with Jon Long’s lab at Stanford.
-6/27/2024: Ryann shared the lab’s work at FENS in Vienna. Many thanks to the session organizer, Julien Ferent for leading us in exploring ‘The Multifaceted Nature of Cell Communication in Nervous System Development, from Afar and Up Close’.
-5/21/2024: The lab is grateful for the support of the Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant awarded.
-5/12/2024: Ryann enjoyed learning and presenting at the European Congress of Endocrinology.
-5/9/2024: Congratulations to Blake on passing their Qualification Exam with flying colors! We enjoyed the conversations with the committee and are proud of the new PhD candidate!
-5/6/2024: Welcome to Ashley Thompson from Howard Medical School who will be doing research in the lab through the HBMC-REACH program!
-4/29/2024: Welcome to Sophia Mirda for her rotation. She’s a member of the Developmental Biology Biosciences Graduate program and we are glad to have her!
-4/19/2024: Ryann speaks at University of Maryland Baltimore nqσ seminar. Thanks for hosting Dr. Alex Poulopolous and for the hospitality from all!
-3/25/2024: Maitreyi Bharath from Leigh High School joins the lab for an internship.
-3/5/2024: We welcome Florence Yun into the lab as a member of the CCOP program and mentored by Arjun.
-3/5/2024: We were excited to host Marilyn Steyert, a guest from UCSF, for a compelling lab meeting discussion.
-1/31/2024: Ryann presents at the Winter Conference on Brain Research on the Panel: Metabolic switches required for development of normal neuron excitability and synaptic plasticity, chaired by Liz Jonas from Yale.
-12/11/2023: Arjun passed his Qualification Exam and is now a PhD candidate! Congratulations to him and many thanks to his committee!
-11/1/2023: Ryann was awarded a RISE mentoring award from HBMC-REACH.
-9/27/2023: Ryann and Arjun attend the Hydrocephalus Association Scientific Workshop in Dallas, TX.
-9/25/2023: We welcome Jack Marciano for his rotation from the Neurosciences IDP graduate program for the Fall Quarter!
-7/11/2023: Luke Liu PhD joins us from Purdue University where he completed his thesis work in the Laboratory of Dr. Wei Zheng. Welcome Luke!
-6/15/2023: Arjun Rajan in the Developmental Biology Graduate program joins the lab for his thesis work!
-6/13/2023: Blake Zhou in the Neurosciences IDP Graduate program joins the lab for their thesis work!
-5/22/2023: Briana Griffin from Meharry SOM joins the lab for her summer research through the Stanford HBMC-REACH program. Welcome Briana!
-5/22/2023: Thanks to the Airan lab for inviting us to share our work at their lab meeting!
-5/11/2023: The lab received a 2023 McCormick and Gabilan Award. We are grateful for the support of our group!
-5/9/2023: Hannah Pescaru joins the lab as a Stanford University Undergraduate researcher with the NeURO program.
-5/5/2023: Blake and Emma present a poster for the Stanford Neuroscience Forum!
-4/3/2023: The first day of the Spring Quarter. We welcome Blake Zhou and Emma Follman (co-rotation in the Tan lab) for their rotations from the Neurosciences IDP graduate program.
-4/1/2023: Ryann presents at the CSHL Brain Barriers meeting.
‍-3/22/2023: The last day of Arjun’s Winter Quarter Rotation. It was great to have him in the lab and we send well wishes for his next rotations!
-3/6/2023: The lab is grateful to the Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation for their generous support of our work.
‍-2/28/2023: Thanks to the Hayden-Gephart lab for inviting us to share our work at their lab meeting!
-2/9/2023: We are grateful to the Hydrocephalus Association for funding our Innovator Award proposal!
‍-1/13/2023: Ryann presents at the Bay Area Cilia Super Group
-1/10/2023: Saf Seck joins the lab as a Stanford University Undergraduate researcher for the Winter Quarter.
-1/10/2023: Arjun Rajan starts his Winter Quarter rotation in the lab. He comes to us from the Developmental Biology Biosciences Graduate Program.
-1/9/2023: We welcome Ryan H as our lab manager. He comes to us from Harvard with years of experience in laboratory science and management!
-12/8/2022: Thanks to the Tawfik lab for inviting us to share our work at their lab meeting!
-11/1/2022: Ryann presents at the International Conference on Neural Tube Closure Defects in Austin TX
-11/1/2022: The Fame Lab is officially open in the Department of Neurosurgey

Mechanisms that Build the Brain

Choroid plexus

Cerebrospinal fluid

Mechanisms that
Build the Brain