Toby Merson\, PhD
Investigat
or
Chief\, Oligodendroglial Interactions Group
Dr. Merson’s research aims to advance our understanding of ol igodendroglial cell function in the central nervous system. His interests s pan from neurodevelopment to ageing and extends to perturbations in oligode ndroglial homeostasis that contribute to mental health disorders and neurod egenerative diseases. A central interest is to clarify how changes in myeli nation contribute to experience-dependent neuroplasticity. Studies from his team and others have revealed that myelination is regulated in an activity -dependent manner. The implications are that myelin plasticity could play a critical role in learning and memory. His team will explore the role that adaptive myelination plays in acquiring and consolidating learnt behaviors. Another key interest is to elucidate how myelin regeneration is executed a t the cellular and molecular level. A particular focus is probing the funct ion of distinct populations of stem and progenitor cells in oligodendrocyte regeneration. His approach combines genetic fate-mapping with single nucle i RNA sequencing to define the developmental trajectories\, cell-state tran sitions and transcriptional dynamics of oligodendroglial progenitor cells a s they differentiate into myelin-forming oligodendrocytes.