Omer Ali Bayraktar
@bayraktarlab.bsky.social
Group leader
@sangerinstitute.bsky.social Neural diversity, spatial transcriptomics, glia, GBM
@sangerinstitute.bsky.social Neural diversity, spatial transcriptomics, glia, GBM
Grateful to @hilarycmartin.bsky.social, Tom Nowakowski and all the other authors and @simonsfoundation.org for the funding
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Grateful to @hilarycmartin.bsky.social, Tom Nowakowski and all the other authors and @simonsfoundation.org for the funding
3) Our work suggests thalamocortical circuit development is a major hub of autism susceptibility & organoid/animal models of autism need to take this into account
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
3) Our work suggests thalamocortical circuit development is a major hub of autism susceptibility & organoid/animal models of autism need to take this into account
2) Hyper/hypo sensitivity are amongst core autism symptoms and sensory sensitivities can be highly distressing & impair social communication.
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
2) Hyper/hypo sensitivity are amongst core autism symptoms and sensory sensitivities can be highly distressing & impair social communication.
Why is this important:
1) Thalamus is a brain region essential for sensory processing and social cognition. It is deeply & reciprocally connected with the cortex, where information from your senses is relayed to the cortex through the thalamus.
1) Thalamus is a brain region essential for sensory processing and social cognition. It is deeply & reciprocally connected with the cortex, where information from your senses is relayed to the cortex through the thalamus.
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Why is this important:
1) Thalamus is a brain region essential for sensory processing and social cognition. It is deeply & reciprocally connected with the cortex, where information from your senses is relayed to the cortex through the thalamus.
1) Thalamus is a brain region essential for sensory processing and social cognition. It is deeply & reciprocally connected with the cortex, where information from your senses is relayed to the cortex through the thalamus.
After the thalamus, the germinal zones that house neural progenitors are most heavily implicated, especially interneuron progenitors! See the preprint for more!
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
After the thalamus, the germinal zones that house neural progenitors are most heavily implicated, especially interneuron progenitors! See the preprint for more!
We implicated thalamic excitatory neurons in particular, and many of the thalamus expressed genes are involved in neuronal & synaptic function
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
We implicated thalamic excitatory neurons in particular, and many of the thalamus expressed genes are involved in neuronal & synaptic function
While we expected the developing human cortex to be the most “important” region, we found the most prevalent expression of autism susceptibility genes in the developing human thalamus!
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
While we expected the developing human cortex to be the most “important” region, we found the most prevalent expression of autism susceptibility genes in the developing human thalamus!
Here, we mapped the expression of 250 known autism susceptibility genes in >10 million cells across the developing human forebrain using Xenium spatial transcriptomics
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Here, we mapped the expression of 250 known autism susceptibility genes in >10 million cells across the developing human forebrain using Xenium spatial transcriptomics
by looking them up in single cell transcriptomic atlases of the developing human brain. However, neuroscience is very “cortex-centric” - it is the most accessible & widely studied brain region - neuroimaging & behavioural symptoms implicate other brain areas.
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
by looking them up in single cell transcriptomic atlases of the developing human brain. However, neuroscience is very “cortex-centric” - it is the most accessible & widely studied brain region - neuroimaging & behavioural symptoms implicate other brain areas.
When & where are these genes expressed during human brain development? These are key questions towards understanding the biology of profound autism. Previous work suggested that autism susceptibility genes converged in the developing human cerebral cortex...
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
When & where are these genes expressed during human brain development? These are key questions towards understanding the biology of profound autism. Previous work suggested that autism susceptibility genes converged in the developing human cerebral cortex...
Autism is also highly heritable. In >10% of autistic individuals, rare & de novo coding genetic variants (i.e. leading to loss of protein function) predispose individuals to profound autism. We know of >200 “autism susceptibility genes” with such variants.
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Autism is also highly heritable. In >10% of autistic individuals, rare & de novo coding genetic variants (i.e. leading to loss of protein function) predispose individuals to profound autism. We know of >200 “autism susceptibility genes” with such variants.
First & foremost, autism exists across a wide spectrum. Our work is focused on profound autism that co-occurs with developmental and intellectual disability (e.g. non-verbal / minimal communication).
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
First & foremost, autism exists across a wide spectrum. Our work is focused on profound autism that co-occurs with developmental and intellectual disability (e.g. non-verbal / minimal communication).
Work by the awesome team of Alexander, Fani and @krademaker.bsky.social
Explore the data interactively (>10 million cells spatially mapped across the developing human brain): www.stageatlas.org
Explore the data interactively (>10 million cells spatially mapped across the developing human brain): www.stageatlas.org
STAGE: Spatiotemporal gene expression atlas of autism
Explore STAGE: Spatiotemporal gene expression atlas of autism.
www.stageatlas.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Work by the awesome team of Alexander, Fani and @krademaker.bsky.social
Explore the data interactively (>10 million cells spatially mapped across the developing human brain): www.stageatlas.org
Explore the data interactively (>10 million cells spatially mapped across the developing human brain): www.stageatlas.org
Grateful to >60 authors for their amazing work + @wellcomeleap.bsky.social (special thx to Jason Swedlow for leading DeltaT!) & @cziscience.bsky.social for their support. @ebi.embl.org @crick.ac.uk @cambridgeuni.bsky.social @dkfz.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social
May 16, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Grateful to >60 authors for their amazing work + @wellcomeleap.bsky.social (special thx to Jason Swedlow for leading DeltaT!) & @cziscience.bsky.social for their support. @ebi.embl.org @crick.ac.uk @cambridgeuni.bsky.social @dkfz.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social
Finally, you can access & navigate almost all of our GB single cell and spatial data in our portal @ www.gbmspace.org built with webatlas2 (go.nature.com/4dEr9mN)
GBM-Space: Multi-modal Atlas of Glioblastoma
Explore GBM-Space, a comprehensive cell and tissue Atlas of Glioblastoma combining spatial transcriptomics, single-cell data, and more.
www.gbmspace.org
May 16, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Finally, you can access & navigate almost all of our GB single cell and spatial data in our portal @ www.gbmspace.org built with webatlas2 (go.nature.com/4dEr9mN)
There are many implications & LOTS of detail in the preprints (e.g. mesenchymal cancer states is really a gliosis/hypoxia response & GB tumour subtypes are likely confounded) bit.ly/4mkrWgs bit.ly/3FbI6Ic
May 16, 2025 at 11:44 AM
There are many implications & LOTS of detail in the preprints (e.g. mesenchymal cancer states is really a gliosis/hypoxia response & GB tumour subtypes are likely confounded) bit.ly/4mkrWgs bit.ly/3FbI6Ic