Nurit Ballas
Research Professor
PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Research
My area of expertise is centered on the regulation of gene expression by specific
transcription factors during brain development and the implications of their loss
on brain functions and the manifestation of neurological disorders. For many years,
my lab has been studying the roles of the transcriptional repressor REST in CNS development.
REST is a master regulator of a large network of genes involved in the acquisition
of neural fate and its dysregulation has been implicated in several neurological disorders.
Currently, we focus on the mechanism that underlies Rett syndrome (RTT), a progressive
neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene. We examine the
cellular and molecular mechanism(s) by which the loss of the MeCP2 function manifests
as neurological symptoms at a specific developmental stage and the non-cell autonomous
effect of glia in the manifestation and rescue of RTT. Our studies have used different
mouse models for RTT, and in recent years, we have also established several patient
iPSC-based models to investigate the mechanism(s) underlying RTT neuropathology, while
specifically focusing on neuron-glia interactions.