Congratulations to Diane Shao and colleagues on their new Nature paper!

Glad to have contributed to an exciting new study published in Nature, led by Diane Shao and colleagues in the Walsh lab, revealing a fascinating quality-control process during human brain development!

By sequencing the genomes of individual neurons, the team discovered that nearly one in four neurons in the fetal cerebral cortex carries extensive chromosomal abnormalities. Remarkably, these genetically abnormal neurons become much less common around birth, suggesting that the developing brain selectively eliminates them. This process may help ensure that healthy neurons survive to form functional brain circuits, with important implications for understanding neurodevelopmental disorders.

Huge congratulations to Diane and the entire team on this exciting discovery! Even better, Diane will be starting her own lab at CHOP in January 2027, just next door to us! We can’t wait to welcome her as our new neighbor and look forward to many more collaborations!

Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11190-3