NeuRoDev resolves lifelong temporal and cellular variation in human cortical gene expression

Abstract

Understanding how the human brain develops and functions requires direct analysis of human cells. Single-cell atlases open unprecedented opportunities to survey cell physiological molecular states as the brain develops. However, technical challenges limit their potential. We present NeuRoDev, a computational resource with highly curated transcriptomic data and novel analytical tools to investigate neuronal and glial development in the human cortex. NeuRoDev compresses [~]1M single-cell transcriptomes into integrative summary networks of reproducible cell clusters that capture temporal and cellular variation across all stages of human brain development. It provides a reference framework to directly interrogate cellular maturation dynamics, contextualize gene function, and interpret experimental organoid models. We use NeuRoDev to investigate developmental variation in cell physiology, reconstruct genesis and maturation dynamics in neuronal and glial cells, and interpret time-series data from organoid models. NeuRoDev is provided as a freely available software package and as web applications for interactive data analysis.