Pierre Mattar
Profile and Department: Scientist, Regenerative Medicine Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Research Interests:
The function of the central nervous system depends on the generation of a huge variety of distinct cell types during development, with specialized morphology, physiology, and gene expression profiles. During neurogenesis, stem and progenitor cells must modify their output in order to produce different types of neurons and glia. Deciphering how this process works is a key requirement for being able to harness the potential of neural stem cells. I focus on this problem in the retina. My goal is to identify and harness factors that control and permit the programming and reprogramming of retinal progenitors