The BRAIN magazine edition 6 - A message from Professor Pankaj Sah

Your brain is a marvel of complexity, but it starts as a mere sheet of cells in the embryo. How does this transformation happen? This is the core question developmental neuroscientists try to answer. In this magazine—the 6th edition of our BRAIN magazine—we take you on a journey to understand how the human brain is built.

As explained in Chapter 1, scientists use various tools and technologies to understand the developing brain. In the process, we learn more about developmental brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia.

We now know that brain development relies on highly choreographed interactions between the genes that we inherit and the environment (Chapter 2). A symphony of molecular coordination and chemical signalling plays from the moment sperm meets egg until a newborn emerges from the womb.

Even after birth, the brain has more development to do. Exposed to a brave new world, a baby gradually learns to fend for itself (with help from its parents). Chapter 3 covers how the brain matures from birth through adolescence, creating and refining connections between brain cells in a lifelong process of learning that progressively brings skills like movement and language online.

In Chapter 4, we discuss some of the hardships faced by brains as they grow, including infection, poor nourishment, and stress. The brain is remarkably resilient, but sometimes our best defences are overwhelmed. For reasons that we are still trying to understand, this can sometimes trigger psychiatric conditions like depression or schizophrenia.

Finally, in Chapter 5, we touch on some of the outstanding questions in the world of brain development. How do all the right molecules interact to coordinate the brain’s development, and how is this shaped by our genetic makeup and individual experiences? How is someone’s risk for schizophrenia influenced by the brain’s early development? And how do brain cells go from isolated, individual units to densely linked and finely tuned networks? Read on to explore the developing brain.

I hope you enjoy our latest issue of The BRAIN magazine.

Professor Pankaj Sah

Director, Queensland Brain Institute