A detailed understanding of the pool of guidance receptors that is express by distinct populations of thalamic neurons is essential to determine the mechanistic program involved in the correct pathfinding and development of this connectivity.  In the laboratory, we have been developing strategies to selectively label distinct populations of thalamic nuclei and their projections using specific transgenic mouse lines. One of the aims of this project is to isolate thalamic neurons from different nuclei to study their gene profile at distinct developmental time points.