By researching cell migration and differentiation in the developing brain, Dr. Hatten’s studies have clinical implications for conditions that are at least partially due to developmental abnormalities in the brain, such as learning disabilities, childhood epilepsy, schizophrenia and autism. Additionally, her work on cerebellar development could one day inform research on treatments for childhood cancers.

During migration, postmitotic central nervous system neurons use a system of radial glial fibers in order to direct cell movements. Dr. Hatten has developed methods to image granule cell migration in real time, providing scientists with a dynamic view of the movement of these immature neurons along glial fibers. She is also interested in astrotactin, a ligand she discovered in 1987 that is used by young neurons to migrate along glia. Molecular studies from the Hatten lab suggest that there are two related astrotactin genes, called Astn1 and Astn2, and that highly related forms of Astn1,2 are expressed in many mammals — humans, chimpanzees, dogs and rodents — suggesting that the neuronal migration mechanisms is conserved among higher vertebrates.

Currently, members of the Hatten lab are working to isolate new families of genes involved in migration. By isolating vertebrate genes related to the control of neuroblast migration in C. elegans, they have discovered several families of genes that are expressed in restricted regions of the cerebral cortex, specifically areas involved with processing sensory information. These genes suggest new approaches to understanding the development of particular areas of the cortex.

Dr. Hatten is also collaborating with Nathaniel Heintz at Rockefeller to create a brain “atlas” of gene expression. The project, called GENSAT, has identified several new families of genes important for migration, a number of which offer novel insights into migrations that establish the cerebellum and the brainstem nuclei that form the cerebellar circuitry. As new research implicates the cerebellum in motor learning, sensory discrimination and cognitive functions, understanding the mechanisms that generate the cerebellar circuitry is an important step to elucidating new roles for the cerebellum in learning and memory.

Additionally, the Hatten lab is looking into the mechanisms that control the proliferation of immature cerebellar granule cells. Her discovery of methods to purify granule cell precursors in 1985 led to the identification of genes that control the expansion of granule cell precursors during development. Understanding this process is important for both development and for childhood cancer, as tumors of the granule cell, the medulloblastoma, are one of the most devastating brain tumors of childhood. In collaboration with researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Dr. Hatten discovered that the tumor suppressor genes Ink4c and p53 repress medulloblastoma formation. She’s now expanding on this work, showing how granule cells migrate into position, and how they differentiate — insight that has implications for medulloblastoma development and treatment. Recent work from her lab has also shown that embryonic stem cells implanted in the mouse brain develop into fully differentiated granule neurons.

CAREER

Dr. Hatten graduated from Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in biochemical sciences from Princeton University in 1975, then did her postdoctoral research in neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. In 1978, she accepted a faculty position at New York University’s School of Medicine and remained there until 1987, when she moved to the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. She came to Rockefeller University in 1992 and was named the Frederick P. Rose Professor in 2000. In 2005, Dr. Hatten was Wiersma Visiting Professor of Neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology.

Dr. Hatten received the Weill Award from the American Association of Neuropathology in 1997. In 1991, she received the McKnight Neuroscience Development Award, the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award and the Faculty Award for Women Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation. She also received the Pew Neuroscience Award in 1988 and the Irma T. Hirschl Career Scientist Award in 1980. Dr. Hatten is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is currently the chair of the section on neuroscience.