Achievement

With the Rasin and Brewer labs, fellow Kevin Thompson found that HuR binds both Zfp521 and Foxp1 mRNA, which encode neuronal transcription factors, during the NEC to RG transition and throughout neocortical development respectively. Furthermore, they detected stable levels of Zfp521 mRNA expression throughout neurogenesis and revealed selective expression of ZFP521 protein in postmitotic projection neurons and FOXP1 protein in projection neurons occupying upper cortical layers. However, HuR deletion during symmetric NSC divisions resulted in ectopic expression of ZFP521 and FOXP1 protein in NSCs at the VZ. This data indicates that HuR functions to repress expression of ZFP521 and FOXP1 in NSCs to maintain cell identity and cycle progression.