Basson Laboratory
The Basson laboratory aims to understand how chromatin remodelling factors control brain development and function and how mutation of these factors cause neurodevelopmental disorders.
About
Our research provides fundamental insights into the epigenetic mechanisms that underlie neurodevelopmental disorders and age-associated cognitive decline.
Mutations in CHD7 cause CHARGE syndrome, a syndrome that affects the development of multiple organs in the body. We have identified several critical roles for CHD7 in development of the cerebellum and our work has implicated CHD7 in cerebellar hypoplasia and medulloblastoma, the most common paediatric brain tumour. Our current research is focused on understanding the functions of CHD7 in the developing neocortex.
Mutations in CHD8 cause autism, macrocephaly and intellectual disability. We have identified key, dosage-dependent roles for CHD8 in regulating autism-associated genes and brain growth. In collaboration with Laura Andreae, we are exploring how CHD8 deficiency affect synaptic function in prefrontal cortex.
CHD8 is recruited to the promoters of neurodevelopmental genes via the H3K4me3 epigenetic modification. Current research is focused on understanding H3K4me3 dysregulation in learning and memory in the context of rare chromatin disorders and ageing.
Our research has been funded by the Medical Research Council, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), CHARGE syndrome Foundation, Anatomical Society and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Albert Basson, PhD
Principal Investigator, Professor of Neuroscience and Epigenetics
Albert obtained his PhD in Immunology from the University of Cambridge and underwent post-doctoral training at the National Institute for Medical Research (Mill Hill). He trained further in developmental biology and genetics as a Wellcome Trust International Research Fellow at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, King’s College London and UCSF. He established his independent research group at King’s College London in 2006 and joined the University of Exeter in 2023. His research has provided insights into the causes of developmental defects of the thymus, kidney, cardiovascular system and cerebellum. The current focus of his group is to uncover the function of chromatin remodelling factors in brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.
Meet our team
Josie Robb
Post-doctoral research associate
After obtaining her PhD from the University of Exeter in 2020, Josie spent four years working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Montreal. There, she expanded on her PhD work in lipid metabolism in glia, studying the role of microglial lipid metabolism on mouse behaviour, inflammation, and neuronal signalling. She joined the Basson Lab in 2024 where her research is currently focused on the role of CHD7 in the development and migration of neuronal populations within the neocortex, with a view to understand how CHD7 regulation of transcription affects mouse behaviour and neuronal signalling.
Neeru Jindal
Post-doctoral research associate
Neeru obtained her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from PGIMER, Chandigarh, India. She worked as Research Associate at the Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. She joined the laboratory in 2024. Her research focuses on investigating the correlation between Ultrasonic Vocalizations (USVs) and the expression of various neuronal markers in postnatal pups, as well as the neuronal mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders.
Jenna Mair
PhD student
Jenna obtained her BSc and Mbiol from the University of Leeds. Her PhD work focuses on characterising the importance of the H3K4me3 demethylase, KDM5b, in the hippocampus and linking this to the development of KDM5b-associated neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ASD and ID. This topic will be explored using both in vitro and in vivo models.
Evelyn Lau
Undergraduate Professional Training Year (PTY) student
Evelyn is a BSc placement student from the University of Exeter. Her project, SINEUP for CHARGE, is funded by the CHARGE foundation and works in collaboration with Espinoza labs from the University of Eastern Piedmont. Her work will focus on testing SINEUPs in Chd7 haploinsufficient neural stem cells and if recovery of CHD7 protein levels can rescue postnatal brain phenotypes in mice to then be designed and optimised in human cell lines.
Borja Morrow Leguina
Undergraduate Neuroscience Student
Borja is a 3rd year Neuroscience student currently undergoing his final year project within the laboratory. He is currently investigating the effects of microglial and histone targets on reversing memory deficits in aged mice. Using electrophysiological methodologies to quantify changes in hippocampal plasticity.'
Jed Trengove
Undergraduate Neuroscience student
Jed is a final year Neuroscience student with the University of Exeter. Supervised by Josephine Robb and Alex Moorhouse, he is assisting on a project investigating CHD7’s epigenetic and transcriptional effects on brain development and growth. He is working on optimising a method for isolating nuclei from pyramidal neurons for FANS and ATAC-sequencing.
Danielle Whittaker
Clinical Research Fellow (RVC and UCL)
Dani is a veterinary clinical research fellow, funded by the Wellcoe Trust. After qualifying as a veterinary surgeon, Dani was awarded a highly competitive Wellcome Trust Integrated Training Fellowship for Veterinarians. She obtained her PhD and was board certified as a specialist clinical Neurologist. Dani’s research is focused on identifying novel genetic causes of neurodevelopmental disorders with cerebellar hypoplasia and understanding the mechanisms that control the specification and differentiation of GABAergic lineages in the cerebellum. Dani will be based in the group of Angus Silver, FRS at UCL from 2023.
Shail Bhatt
PhD student (MRC DTP iCASE, KCL)
Shail joined the laboratory after completing his MSci degree at UCL. His PhD work will focus on characterising specific deficits in histone methylation machinery in neurons in the aged hippocampus and asking if correcting these deficits can ameliorate age-associated cognitive decline.
This project is a collaboration between the Basson and Giese labs at KCL and an industrial partner, Merck, Sharp & Dohme
Projects
Currently there are four main research areas in the laboratory:
Functions and mechanisms of CHD7 in cerebellar and frontal cortex development
Neurodevelopmental roles of CHD8 and associated chromatin remodelling factors
Rare chromatin disorders: epigenetic mechanisms and therapies
Chromatin regulation in learning and memory
Functions and mechanisms of KDM5B
Selected Publications
Whittaker, D.E.*, Oleari, R.*, Gregory, L.C.*, Le Quesne-Stabej, P., Williams, H.J., GOSGene, Torpiano, J.G., Formosa, N., Cachia, M.J., Field, D., Lettieri, A., Ocaka, L.A., Paganoni, A.J., Rajabali, S.H., Riegman, K.L.H., De Martini, L.B., Chaya, T., Robinson, I.C.A.F., Furukawa, T., Cariboni, A.^, Basson, M.A.^, Dattani, M.T.^ (2021) J. Clin. Invest. 131:e141587. *Joint first, ^Joint corresponding authors
Ellingford, R.A., Panasiuk, M.J., Rabeshala De Meritens, E., Shaunak, R., Naybour, L., Browne, L., Basson, M.A.*, Andreae, L.C.* (2021) Cell-type-specific synaptic imbalance and disrupted homeostatic plasticity in cortical circuits of ASD-associated Chd8 haploinsufficient mice. Mol. Psych. 26:3614-24. *Joint corresponding authors
Badodi, S., Pomella, N., Zhang, X., Rosser, G., Whittingham, J., Niklison-Chirou, M.V., Lim, Y,M., Brandner, S., Morrison, G., Pollard, S.M., Bennett, C.D., Clifford, S.C., Peet, A., Basson, M.A. & Marino, S. (2021) Inositol treatment inhibits medulloblastoma through epigenetic-driven metabolic adaptation. Nat. Comms. 12:2148.
Hurley, S., Mohan, C., Suetterlin, P., Ellingford, R., Riegman, K.L.H., Ellegood, J., Caruso, A. , Michetti, C., Brock, O., Evans, R., Rudari, F., Delogu, A., Scattoni, M.L., Lerch, J.P., Fernandes, C. & Basson, M.A. (2021) Distinct, dosage-sensitive requirements for the autism-associated factor CHD8 during cortical development. Mol. Autism 12:16.
Kelly, E., Meng, F., Fujita, H., Morgado, F., Kazemi, Y., Rice, L.C., Ren, C., EsCamilla, C.O., Gibson, J.M., Sajadi, S., Pendry, R., Tan, T., Ellegood, J., Basson, M.A., Blakely, R.D., Dindot, S., Golzio, C., Hahn, M.K., Katsanis, N., Robins, D., Silvrman, J., Singh, K., Wevrick, R., Taylor, M., Hammill, C., Anagnostou, E., Pfeiffer, B.E., Stoodley, C.J., Lerch, J.P., du Lac, S. & Tsai, P.T. (2020) Regulation of autism-relevant behaviors by cerebellar-prefrontal cortical circuits. Nat. Neurosci. 23(9):1102-1110.
Sarić, N., Selby, M., Ramaswamy, V., Kool, M., Stockinger, B., Hogstrand, C., Williamson, D., Marino, S., Taylor, M.D., Clifford, S.C. & Basson, M.A. (2020) The AHR pathway represses TGFb-SMAD3 signalling and has a potent tumour suppressive role in SHH medulloblastoma. Sci. Reports 10(1):148.
Suetterlin P, Hurley S, Mohan C, Riegman KLH, Pagani M, Caruso A, Ellegood J, Galbusera A, Crespo-Enriquez I, Michetti C, Yee Y, Ellingford R, Brock O, Delogu A, Francis-West P, Lerch JP, Scattoni ML, Gozzi A, Fernandes C, Basson MA (2018) Altered Neocortical Gene Expression, Brain Overgrowth and Functional Over-Connectivity in Chd8 Haploinsufficient Mice. Cereb Cortex 28:2192-2206.
Whittaker, D.E., Riegman, K.L.H., Kasah, S., Mohan, C., Yu, T., Pijuan Sala, B., Hebaishi, H., Caruos, A., Marques, A.C., Michetti, C., Sanz Smachetti, M.E., Shah, A., Sabbioni, M., Kulhanci, O., Tee, W.W., Reinberg, D., Scattoni, M.L., Volk, H., McGonnell, I., Wardle, F., Fernandes, C. & Basson, M.A. (2017) The chromatin remodeling factor CHD7 controls cerebellar development by regulating reelin expression. J. Clin. Invest. Mar 1;127(3):874-887.
Basson, M.A. & van Ravenswaaij-Arts, C.M. (2015) Functional insights into chromatin remodelling from studies on CHARGE syndrome. Trends in Genetics 10:600-611.
Yu, T., Meiners, L.C., Danielsen, K., Wong, T.Y., Bowler, T., Reinberg, D., Scambler, P.J., van Ravenswaaij, C.M.A. & Basson, M.A. (2013) Deregulated FGF and homeotic gene expression underlies cerebellar vermis hypoplasia in CHARGE syndrome. eLife 2:e01305.
Chakkalakal, J., Jones, K., Basson, M.A. & Brack, A.S. (2012) The aged niche disrupts muscle stem cell quiescence. Nature 490:355-360.
Lab alumni
Andrew Graham (PhD,2025): Data scientist, Relation
Leticia Perez-Sisques (Post-doc): Post-doctoral research associate, King’s College London
Alex Donovan (PhD, 2020): Post-doctoral fellow, Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge and NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York
Rob Ellingford (PhD, 2020): Post-doctoral scientist, UCL
Talia Gileadi (PhD,2019): Senior Scientist, Astra Zeneca, Sweden
Conor Mohan (PhD,2019): Solutions Architect, Code Ocean
Shaun Hurley (PhD,2019): Program Leader, AQEMIA
Kimberley Riegman (PhD, 2019): Business Developer Neuroscience, Senior Scientist, UMC Amsterdam
John Whittingham (Technician): Publishing assistant, Springer Nature
Phil Suetterlin (Post-doc): Physics teacher
Nemanja Saric (PhD, 2018): Post-doc at Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's National Health System, Washington D.C. USA.
Sahrunizam Kasah (PhD, 2017): Lecturer, Brunei Darussalam.Blanca Pijuan Sala (MSc, 2014) - PhD (Cantab); Post-doc at EMBL
Kieran Jones (PhD, 2013): EMEA, Databricks
Hagen Schmidt (Technician) - Technician, Barts and the London Cancer Centre.
Abigail Jackson (PhD, 2011) - Assistant Professor, Danish Stem Cell Institute, Copenhagen.
Subreena Simrick (Post-doc): Senior Research Advisor, British Heart Foundation.
Jennifer Gardiner (PhD, 2010) - Editor, News & Views, Nature.
