What genes build a brain?

In neuroscience, transcriptomics means investigating the genes that make the brain develop and function. What genes build a brain? How do they work? When are the genes active, and when are they switched off?
This is the overlap of genetics and neuroscience, and as you can imagine, it is fascinating. Let’s hear from Leah Dorman, a graduate student in the lab of Anna Molofsky at the Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience at UCSF. She studies microglia, the immune cells in the brain that clean up extra neurons and synapses so that our brains can work properly.