Takashi Namba

Metabolic regulation of human brain evolution & development, and neurodevelopmental disorders
Takashi Namba

PhD, Docent
Group Leader at the Neuroscience Center, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki
ERA-NET NEURON MEPIcephaly coordinator
PRESTO, JST awardee

Key publications:

Xing L, Gkini V, Nieminen AI, Zhou HC, Aquilino M, Naumann R, Reppe K, Tanaka K, Carmeliet P, Heikinheimo O, Pääbo S, Huttner WB, Namba T. Functional synergy of a human-specific and an ape-specific metabolic regulator in human neocortex development. Nat Commun. 15:3468, 2024. 

Jones AG, Aquilino M, Tinker RJ, Duncan L, Jenkins Z, Carvill GL, DeWard SJ, Grange DK, Hajianpour MJ, Halliday BJ, Holder-Espinasse M, Horvath J, Maitz S, Nigro V, Morleo M, Paul V, Spencer C, Esterhuizen AI, Polster T, Spano A, Gómez-Lozano I, Kumar A, Poke G, Phillips III JA, Underhill HR, Gimenez G, Namba T, Robertson SP. Clustered de novo Start-Loss Variants in GLUL Result in a Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathy via Stabilization of Glutamine Synthetase. Am J Hum Genet. 111:729-741, 2024.

Namba T, Dóczi J, Pinson A, Xing L, Kalebic N, Wilsch-Bräuninger M, Long K, Vaid S, Lauer J, Bogdanova A, Borgonovo B, Shevchenko A, Keller P, Drechsel D, Kurzchalia T, Wimberger P, Chinopoulos C, Huttner WB. Human-specific ARHGAP11B acts in mitochondria to expand neocortical progenitors by glutaminolysis. Neuron, 105:867-881, 2020.