Rate My Professor Qiumin Tan

Tan's research centers on brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders, using the hippocampus as a model to study how diverse cell types are produced, maintained, eliminated, and integrated into brain circuits. Key areas include early postnatal and adult hippocampal neurogenesis, regulation of neuronal migration and dendritic architecture, precise axonal projections of newborn neurons, and the developmental cell death and adult roles of hippocampal Cajal-Retzius cells, with implications for epilepsy and other neurological disorders. Her lab has developed strategies for genetic manipulation of Cajal-Retzius cells in adult mice. Tan's contributions include high-impact publications such as "Disruption of the ATXN1–CIC complex causes a spectrum of neurobehavioral phenotypes in mice and humans" (Nature Genetics, 2017; co-first author), "ATXN1-CIC Complex Is the Primary Driver of Cerebellar Pathology in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 through a Gain-of-Function Mechanism" (Neuron, 2018), "Mouse models as a tool for discovering new neurological diseases" (Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2019; co-corresponding author), "Capicua regulates the survival of Cajal-Retzius cells in the postnatal hippocampus" (Cell Death & Disease, 2025), and "Loss of NFIA Impairs Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis" (Hippocampus, 2025). Her work has advanced understanding of molecular mechanisms in neurodevelopmental diseases.