Multifaceted roles of microRNAs

Two crucial questions in neuroscience are how neurons establish individual identity in the developing nervous system and why only specific neuron subtypes are vulnerable to neurodegenerative diseases. In the central nervous system, spinal motor neurons serve as one of the best-characterized cell types for addressing these two questions.

How neurons establish individual identity in the developing nervous system and why only specific neuron subtypes are susceptible to degeneration in neurodegenerative disease are two challenging unanswered questions in neuroscience.

The relevance of miRNAs to development and disease contexts has been gaining increasing attention over the past two decades.