External seminar - Roberto Toro (Institut Pasteur)

Abstract: The development of a complex brain is often assumed to result from genetic and activity-dependent processes. Our work explores to what extent a third factor – mechanical morphogenesis – can also play a causal role in shaping the development and evolution of the brain. We call mechanical morphogenesis the process leading to the emergence of complex forms in living and non-living matter as a result of growth. Using computational modelling and multimodal imaging data from many time points of the development of a folding brain, and from many primate species across the phylogenetic tree, we study the emergence of brain organisation at multiple levels: the changes of the cerebral surface, cortical thickness patterns, and cortico-cortical connectivity. Our results suggest that mechanical morphogenesis could have a causal role in the formation of brain folding patterns, regional differences and connections. Finally, we show evidence that the same mechanical processes which shape the landscape of brain folds and connections could also influence cognitive behaviour.