Christian Mayer

📢 🚨 Technical Assistant Opportunity in Neuroscience 📢 🚨
Join us at @lmumuenchen.bsky.social and support research on how neural circuits 🧠 drive adaptive behavior!
⏳ Deadline: 15. November 2025
Learn more and apply: www.fens.org/careers/job-...

Thrilled to share that our work is now published in Science! ✨

We found a preference for visual objects in the mouse spatial navigation system where they dynamically refine head-direction coding. In short, objects boost our inner compass! 🧭

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Congratulations, Emilie — such exciting work!

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

Species-specific Rates of Fatty Acid Metabolism Set the Scale of Temporal Patterning of Corticogenesis through Protein Acetylation Dynamics Developmental processes display temporal differences across species, leading to divergence in organ size and composition. In the cerebral cortex, neurons of diverse identities are generated sequential...

New from the lab: Fatty Acid Metabolism Sets the Species-specific Tempo of Cortical Development through Protein Acetylation Dynamics. Led by amazing trio: @ryo2iwata.bsky.social , Isabel Gallego, @emirerkol.bsky.social, together with @steinaerts.bsky.social , @fendtlab.bsky.social

New from the Bocchi Lab in Nature Communications:
Cortical astrocytes arise from two distinct progenitor lineages with specialized roles.
Glad my lab could support the lineage tracing part using TrackerSeq.
Congratulations to @bocchiric.bsky.social and the whole team!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

MRC Postdoctoral Research Scientists x 5 - MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences Applications are now open for up to five postdoctoral positions in the area of developmental epigenetics.

Interested in developmental epigenetics? So are we! Apply now to join us for your postdoc!

Multiple positions across multiple groups @mrc-lms.bsky.social

Projects spanning germline demethylation, gene regulation, genome architecture in development & disease 👇👇

lms.mrc.ac.uk/work/vacanci...

Temporal control of progenitor competence shapes maturation in GABAergic neuron development in mice - Nature Neuroscience Unlike cortical progenitors, ventral telencephalic progenitors retain the ability to generate diverse neuron types during neurogenesis. Here, the authors show that ventral telencephalic progenitor mat...

Ventral telencephalic progenitor maturation is gated by developmental timing, revealing a distinct regulatory logic underlying the development of inhibitory neurons

@annrosebright.bsky.social @flo-neuhaus.bsky.social aus.bsky.social, @chr-mayer.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Grateful to all our collaborators, @elena-dvoretskova.bsky.social, Diana Rodrigues, Michael Myoga, Chao Feng, Ilaraia Vitali, Elif Dönmez and Christian Peters for their contributions to this work!

Explore the data in our interactive app: mayerlab.net/mouse-inhibi...

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Gene regulatory network analysis pointed to NFIB as a central hub. It interacts e.g. with MEIS2 and TCF4, and drives late-stage enhancer activation. Heterochronic transplants suggests: maturation competence is sensitive to environmental timing.
#GeneRegulation #Scenic+ #NFIB #Transplantation
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We also saw a shift in TF activity.

Footprinting showed increased NFI binding, especially NFIB, in late-born cohorts. These neurons activate maturation modules faster — possibly guided by chromatin remodeling during neurogenesis.
#TFfootprints #TranscriptionFactors #scATACseq
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This shift was mirrored in chromatin accessibility.

scATAC-seq revealed stage-specific enhancer activation, with late-born cells opening distinct regulatory elements — especially in distal regions. A dynamic change in the regulatory landscape.
#Chromatin #Epigenetics #scATACseq
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Using FlashTag to label isochronic cohorts, we tracked the fate of early- and late-born GABAergic neurons. Surprisingly, later-born neurons matured faster — reaching advanced transcriptional states in hours rather than days. Differentiation stayed relatively constant; maturation didn’t.
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During corticogenesis, progenitor competence changes over time — generating distinct excitatory neuron types.
But it turns out that in inhibitory lineages, progenitors retain more stable differentiation competence. Instead, temporal progression alters maturation dynamics.
#PatchClamp
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Temporal control of progenitor competence shapes maturation in GABAergic neuron development in mice - Nature Neuroscience Unlike cortical progenitors, ventral telencephalic progenitors retain the ability to generate diverse neuron types during neurogenesis. Here, the authors show that ventral telencephalic progenitor mat...

Now out in @natneuro.nature.com: Temporal control of progenitor competence shapes maturation in GABAergic neuron development in mice. Congrats to first authors @annrosebright.bsky.social, Yana Kotlyarenko, @flo-neuhaus.bsky.social, and thanks to all collaborators!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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📢 Announcing the MOPITAS Autumn School on Spatial Transcriptomics Data Analysis – taking place November 12–14, in Munich. Don't miss this excellent opportunity to deepen your expertise in data science and multi-OMICS analysis - especially as a PhD student in the data science community.

some new posters
#sciComm #sciArt #neuroskyence #neuroscience

Attended the Neurogenomics Conference @humantechnopole.bsky.social in Milan earlier this week. Impressive host institute and an inspiring environment. Thanks to the organisers for putting together a strong and engaging meeting.

#NeuroGen25

Our group leader @chr-mayer.bsky.social is one of the awardees of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) Pilot Awards for a novel research project on the role of genetic mutations in chromatin-modifying enzymes in the development of autism – Congratulations!! 🎉 🧠✨

This project is co-funded by the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation (NLMFF). Grateful for their support in advancing research on neurodevelopment and autism spectrum disorders.

More about the grant: www.nlmfoundation.org/grant/epigen...

#NLMFF #AutismResearch #Neurodevelopment

SFARI | Announcing the Recipients of the 2024 Pilot and Pilot Progression Awards The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative is pleased to announce funding for 23 projects as part of its 2024 Pilot and Pilot Progression awards.

Big thanks to #SFARI for supporting our research through a 2024 Pilot Award. This funding will help us explore how mutations in chromatin regulators ASH1L and SETBP1 impact the development of inhibitory neurons and contribute to autism spectrum disorders.

www.sfari.org/2025/04/08/a...

Alert! Postdoc positions available - at least two. Interested in coming to Karolinska and work on adolescent development/schizophrenia? Have a background in neuroscience, functional genomics, computational analysis or spatial transcriptomics? Large data sets available for analysis. Get in touch!