Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Debby Silver

@debbysilver.bsky.social

1.5K followers 440 following 60 posts

Scientist, prof at Duke, mom, food, travel, ocean lover. Fascinated by how the brain develops and is modified in disease and evolution. RNA biology intersects neural development. Views my own not employer. https://sites.duke.edu/silverlab/

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · 25d

Thanks @blibep.bsky.social for hosting me in Marseille and sharing your exciting science on cerebellar evolution!!
Thanks as well to @alexbaffet.bsky.social and @sbaulac.bsky.social for hosting me in Paris!! What a treat to visit with and discuss fantastic science with all! #internationalscience!

Baptiste Libé-Philippot @blibep.bsky.social · 26d

We were glad to receive @debbysilver.bsky.social 🇺🇸 for a @ibdm.bsky.social keynote lecture "The choreography of brain development: From RNA biology to evolution"!
Thank you for coming in Marseille! Very nice chats on neurodevelopment, human evolution, gene regulation! Food and sea also in the menu!

Reposted by Debby Silver

MPI for Biological Intelligence @mpiforbi.bsky.social · 28d

From RNA to evolution: Come join our next keynote lecture on the choreography of brain development by @debbysilver.bsky.social, Professor at Duke University!

📍September 15 at 11am in NQ105 in Martinsried
Art by @somedonkey.bsky.social

Reposted by Debby Silver

Carolyn Johnson @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social · Aug 18

"What I would simply say is cancer can't wait." --Richard Schlueter, a 56-year-old metastatic cancer patient whose therapy was delayed due to terminations at NIH.

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 13

Thanks Mariah!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 11

Thanks Matt!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 11

Thanks Madeline!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 10

Grateful to additional fantastic co-authors including
@jingliu1129.bsky.social , Katie Lam, Samantha Skavicus, Nick Heaton, Victoria Kapp. Also enormously grateful to funding from NIMH which made our discoveries possible.

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 10

Finally in a fantastic collaboration with Katie Pollard and Katie Gjoni, we discover nearby structural variants that stabilize its chromatin loops with these target genes, suggesting co-evolution of human-specific DNA changes.

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 10

It influences neurogenesis by controlling expression of two key target genes, ETV5 and TRA2B, through a positive feedback loop.

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 10

Using genomically-edited human and chimpanzee organoids, and mouse models, we show the human enhancer boosts progenitor proliferation and neuron production. We further show that human HAR1984 is sufficient to induce cortical folding in an otherwise smooth (lissencephalic) brain!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 10

Sharing our newest study led by the incredibly talented @federicamosti.bsky.social investigating new molecular mechanisms of human brain development. We discover a human-specific enhancer HAR1984 that influences chromatin looping to promote cortical size and folding! www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Aug 10

thanks so much Cedric!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Jul 24

Congrats Megan and team! Looking forward to read!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Jun 21

Congrats Xin!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · Jun 9

Thanks Sahil!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 22

Thanks Silvia!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 20

Thanks so much Madeline!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 20

Thanks Giordano!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 18

Thanks Keri!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 15

Thanks Santos!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 15

Thanks Charlie!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 15

Thanks Loyal!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 15

Thanks Cedric!!

Debby Silver @debbysilver.bsky.social · May 15

Thanks Mariah!

Reposted by Debby Silver

Nature @nature.com · May 14

Taking a snippet of genetic code that is unique to humans and inserting it into mice helps them grow bigger brains than usual

https://go.nature.com/3GOTQkz

Mice grow bigger brains when given this stretch of human DNA

Finding adds to the bigger picture of how humans developed such large brains.