Skip to content
Project Directory
  • Français
Donate Now
  • Français
  • About
    • What We Do
    • EDI Action Plan
    • Leadership
    • Team
    • Annual Report
    • Publications
    • Careers
  • Brain Conditions
    • One Brain
    • ALS
    • Autism (ASD)
    • Brain Cancer
    • Brain Injury
    • Dementia
    • Epilepsy
    • Mental Illness
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Parkinson’s
    • Stroke
    • More
  • Research
    • Programs
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Program Partners
    • Announcements
  • Impact
    • Research Impact Stories
    • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
    • Brain Health in Indigenous Communities
    • Women’s Brain Health
    • Mind Over Matter
  • How You Can Help
    • Ways to Give
    • Start a Fundraiser
    • Workplace Giving
    • The Great Minds

Funded Grants

Back to results

Investigating the role of outer radial glia in autism using human pluripotent stem cells-derived 2D neural cultures and 3D brain organoids

Project Overview

The extraordinary size and folded shape of the human brain makes us the smartest animal on earth. However, it also means many diseases that harm the human brain disrupt cells and structures that are not seen in other animals such as the mouse, and therefore cannot be adequately studied in these animal models. For example, the human brain has a disproportionally large cerebral cortex, compared to mouse and non-human primates. We now know that the evolutionary expansion of the human cortex is driven by a special type of neural stem cells that are abundant in the developing human brain. These neural stem cells are poorly studied because they are very rare in the mouse brain. Autism Spectrum Disorders are complex developmental disorders affecting 1 in 66 children in Canada. Evidence suggests autism has a strong genetic component, and recent efforts have identified a growing list of human genes associated autism. Interestingly, by analyzing the expression levels of these autism genes in different brain cell types, it was revealed that 10% of them are specifically enriched in the special neural stem cells. In the current proposed research, we will directly study the function of these autism genes in human neural stem cells in the dish. To do this, we will grow human stem cells and 3-dimensional brain organoids, and use gene editing tools such as CRISPR to introduce the autism related mutations. We will use these new tools to investigate how autism mutations impact the development and functions of the special neural stem cells in the dish. These elusive stem cells may hold the key to understanding why brain diseases such as autism are so hard to study in animal models. It is only with this understanding can we then develop strategies and medicines to treat these devastating brain diseases.

Principal Investigator

Yun Li , The Hospital for Sick Children

Partners and Donors

The Azrieli Foundation

Project Ongoing

Investigating the role of outer radial glia in autism using human pluripotent stem cells-derived 2D neural cultures and 3D brain organoids

  • Grant Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Neurodevelopment

  • Disease Area

    Autism

  • Competition

    Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research

  • Province

    Ontario

  • Start Date

    2022

  • Total Grant Amount

    $100,000

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $50,000

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

Please note all online donations will receive an electronic tax receipt, issued by Brain Canada Foundation.

Our Donors

Playing with Marbles Podcast

Join us and take a journey to the real last great frontier – the brain.

Listen

Subscribe to Brain News

Receive our monthly electronic newsletter with updates on funded projects, upcoming events and breakthroughs in brain research.

Sign Up

Territorial acknowledgement

The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

© 2025 Brain Canada Foundation

Registration number: 89105 2094 RR0001

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Design by Field Trip & Co

  • About
    • What We Do
    • EDI Action Plan
    • Leadership
    • Team
    • Annual Report
    • Publications
    • Careers
  • Brain Conditions
    • One Brain
    • ALS
    • Autism (ASD)
    • Brain Cancer
    • Brain Injury
    • Dementia
    • Epilepsy
    • Mental Illness
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Parkinson’s
    • Stroke
    • More
  • Research
    • Programs
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Program Partners
    • Announcements
  • Impact
    • Research Impact Stories
    • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
    • Brain Health in Indigenous Communities
    • Women’s Brain Health
    • Mind Over Matter
  • How You Can Help
    • Ways to Give
    • Start a Fundraiser
    • Workplace Giving
    • The Great Minds
Project Directory
Donate Now