Maria Margarita Behrens: The epigenomics of brain development and maturation

Professor Maria Margarita Behrens is a faculty member in the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. Born in Uruguay and raised in Chile, she trained in biochemistry and molecular biology in Brazil and Spain before transitioning into neuroscience in the United States. She joined the Salk Institute in 2009 after positions at Washington University School of Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, and the Department of Medicine at UCSD. Her laboratory investigates the epigenomic basis of brain development and maturation, with particular emphasis on understanding how neural circuits form in the prefrontal cortex during the perinatal period. As a principal investigator in the NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN), she has contributed to generating comprehensive single-cell epigenomic atlases of the mouse and human brain and to identifying cell types through their DNA methylation signatures. Her work aims to elucidate how disruptions during critical developmental windows may lead to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. In this Genomic Press Interview, Professor Behrens reflects on her unconventional path to neuroscience, her passion for collaborative research, and the questions that continue to drive her scientific curiosity.