Vitor Sousa, PhD

Position:
Postdoctoral Fellow, Rosa Cossart Lab Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée INMED - France

Phone:
+33 (0) 491 828 118

Education and Training:

06/2005-2011: Postdoctoral Fellow, Gordon Fishell Lab, Neuroscience Institute, NYU School of Medicine, NY
10/1999-10/2004: Ph.D. in Mathias Treier Lab, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany, "The role of novel Gli-related transcription factors during mouse development"
08/1998-09/1999: Training in Mouse Genetic Manipulation in Paulo Vieira Lab, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal
10/1993-07/1998: Licenciatura in Microbiology and Genetics, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Current or Past Study:
My interest consists mainly in applying mouse molecular genetics to study the transcriptional code that regulates the determination of specific interneuron cell types. The hedgehog signaling pathway has been shown to be required for the proper specification of cortical interneuron progenitors in the ventral telencephalon and for maintenance of their identity at later developmental ages. I am interested in defining the role of the transcriptional effectors that function downstream of hedgehog signaling in the determination of defined sets of interneuron cell types. Ultimately, comprehending how single interneuron types are originated will allow a better examination of the processes in which they function in the context of higher order neural networks and therefore, a better understanding of neurological diseases originated from a failure of interneuron function.