1-030 - Making Connections: Callosal Development and Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest white matter fiber bundle in the human brain, and contains a large number of long-range connections that support a wide array of cognitive and social-cognitive functions. Atypical structure and function of the CC has been demonstrated in a number of developmental disorders including autism, ADHD, Fragile X syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, , and dyslexia to name a few. Agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC) is an understudied neurodevelopmental condition that results in dynamic functional reorganization of the cortex and a heterogenous behavioral phenotype that ranges from subtle social-cognitive deficits and atypical motor coordination to clinically impairing social-communication deficits and associated symptoms.

As part of the SRCD’s initiative to support planning activities that address the Strategic Plan of the society, and with supplemental support from the Simons Foundation, we organized a scientific salon that brought together an interdisciplinary panel of scholars to discuss typical and atypical development of the corpus callosum, with a specific focus on AgCC. This symposium distills the highlights of that two-day-meeting into 3 presentations that will represent 1) molecular-genetic factors related to CC development (Macklis), 2) mapping callosal myelination across development in typically developing infants (Deoni), and 3) developmental considerations and detailed characterization of the variability observed in the AgCC phenotype (Brown). The discussant (Elison) will synthesize across the levels of analysis and outline the importance and relevance of callosal development to many themes examined by developmental scientists.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Disabilities

Chair

• Jed T. Elison, University of Minnesota

Individual Presentations

• Development, Specification, and Diversity of Callosal Projection Neurons - Presenting Author: Jeffrey Macklis, Harvard University

• Maturation and Myelination of the Corpus Callosum - Presenting Author: Sean C Deoni, Brown University; Jonathan O’Muircheartaigh, Department of Neuroimaging, King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK; Jed T. Elison, University of Minnesota; Holly Dirks, Brown University; Irene Piryatinksky, Brown University; Douglas C. Dean III, Brown University

• Behavioral, Neuropsychological, and Psychosocial Outcomes of Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum - Presenting Author: Warren Brown, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology