Tomasz Nowakowski, PhD

Associate Professor
Anatomy
Psychiatry
Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research
Research Overview: 

Dr. Nowakowski received his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh (UK) in 2012, where he developed his passion for understanding molecular mechanisms of brain development. Subsequently, he pursued postdoctoral training at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF. In 2017, where he used single cell RNA sequencing to study the heterogeneity of cellular populations in the developing brain and discovered the biomarkers of outer radial glia.

He synthesized the current understanding of brain development and cortical expansion in the Supragranular Cortex Expansion Hypothesis, which extends the classic view of cortical development embodied in the Radial Unit Hypothesis to account for the massive expansion of the cortical OSVZ progenitor population, the protracted neurogenesis period in humans and primates, the loss of pial surface-contacting radial glia fibers mid-way through cortical neurogenesis, and the disproportionate expansion of supragranular cortical layers within primates. This updated model has important implication for neuronal migration, area patterning, and cortical folding.

Dr. Nowakowski established his own research group in 2017. His group seeks to understand how the human genome, a fundamental unit in biology, reproducibly generates the neuronal cell types of the brain that support its complex cognitive functions. In particular, Dr. Nowakowski is fascinated by inherited developmental mechanisms that recapitulate key morphological features of the body plan, while allowing sufficient flexibility to achieve the phenotypic variation we observe in nature. 

Recently developed technologies of single-cell sequencing, genome engineering, and in vitro modeling of tissue development have transformed our ability study the complex universe of cellular processes with unprecedented precision. Dr. Nowakowski’s independent research group seeks to utilize these technologies to uncover genetic control mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental events and tissue organization in the cerebral cortex. These approaches may highlight cellular patterns of selective vulnerability in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorders and Schizophrenia.

Primary Thematic Area: 
Neurobiology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Research Summary: 
Developmental origins of cellular diversity in the nervous system. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of cortical development.

Websites

Publications: 

Rubella virus tropism and single-cell responses in human primary tissue and microglia-containing organoids.

eLife

Galina Popova, Hanna Retallack, Chang N Kim, Albert Wang, David Shin, Joseph L DeRisi, Tomasz Nowakowski

Rubella virus tropism and single-cell responses in human primary tissue and microglia-containing organoids.

eLife

Popova G, Retallack H, Kim CN, Wang A, Shin D, DeRisi JL, Nowakowski T

Three-dimensional genome rewiring in loci with human accelerated regions.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

Keough KC, Whalen S, Inoue F, Przytycki PF, Fair T, Deng C, Steyert M, Ryu H, Lindblad-Toh K, Karlsson E, Zoonomia Consortium?, Nowakowski T, Ahituv N, Pollen A, Pollard KS, Andrews G, Armstrong JC, Bianchi M, Birren BW, Bredemeyer KR, Breit AM, Christmas MJ, Clawson H, Damas J, Di Palma F, Diekhans M, Dong MX, Eizirik E, Fan K, Fanter C, Foley NM, Forsberg-Nilsson K, Garcia CJ, Gatesy J, Gazal S, Genereux DP, Goodman L, Grimshaw J, Halsey MK, Harris AJ, Hickey G, Hiller M, Hindle AG, Hubley RM, Hughes GM, Johnson J, Juan D, Kaplow IM, Karlsson EK, Keough KC, Kirilenko B, Koepfli KP, Korstian JM, Kowalczyk A, Kozyrev SV, Lawler AJ, Lawless C, Lehmann T, Levesque DL, Lewin HA, Li X, Lind A, Lindblad-Toh K, Mackay-Smith A, Marinescu VD, Marques-Bonet T, Mason VC, Meadows JRS, Meyer WK, Moore JE, Moreira LR, Moreno-Santillan DD, Morrill KM, Muntan? G, Murphy WJ, Navarro A, Nweeia M, Ortmann S, Osmanski A, Paten B, Paulat NS, Pfenning AR, Phan BN, Pollard KS, Pratt HE, Ray DA, Reilly SK, Rosen JR, Ruf I, Ryan L, Ryder OA, Sabeti PC, Sch?ffer DE, Serres A, Shapiro B, Smit AFA, Springer M, Srinivasan C, Steiner C, Storer JM, Sullivan KAM, Sullivan PF, Sundstr?m E, Supple MA, Swofford R, Talbot JE, Teeling E, Turner-Maier J, Valenzuela A, Wagner F, Wallerman O, Wang C, Wang J, Weng Z, Wilder AP, Wirthlin ME, Xue JR, Zhang X

385 A Cell Resolution Atlas of the Human Cerebrovasculature Reveals Angiogenic and Inflammatory Cell Programs in Arteriovenous Malformations.

Neurosurgery

Ethan A. Winkler, Chang Kim, Jayden Ross, Joseph Garcia, Eugene Gil, Irene Oh, Lindsay Chen, David Wu, Joshua Catapano, Kunal P. Raygor, Kazim Narsinh, Helen Kim, Shantel Weinsheimer, Daniel Cooke, Brian Patrick Walcott, Michael T. Lawton, Nalin Gupta, Berislav Zlokovic, Edward F. Chang, Adib Adnan Abla, Daniel A. Lim, Tomasz Nowakowski

Transcriptomic cell type structures in vivo neuronal activity across multiple timescales.

Cell reports

Schneider A, Azabou M, McDougall-Vigier L, Parks DF, Ensley S, Bhaskaran-Nair K, Nowakowski T, Dyer EL, Hengen KB