Tosh Show My Niece and Her Neuroscientist - Dr. Roy Sillitoe
Mar 24, 2026
Dr. Roy Sillitoe, neuroscientist who studies cerebellar development and movement disorders, talks about how the cerebellum shapes movement and communication. He discusses using mouse models to create and reverse dystonia, miniaturized and closed-loop brain stimulation, and linking POU4F1 gene mutations to rare motor and speech problems. Funding and paths toward human therapies are also highlighted.
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From Brain Formation To Disease Origins
- Roy Sillitoe studies how the brain forms connections and how those connections enable movement, thought, and feeling.
- Over 15 years he shifted from development to focusing on what goes wrong in brain diseases to understand origins of neurological disorders.
One Gene Can Cause Many Different Disorders
- A single gene can produce very different disorders depending on the mutation, causing ataxia, epilepsy, or migraines.
- Sillitoe used one gene example to show distinct mutations yield dramatically different clinical outcomes.
Target Dysfunction With Precision Stimulation
- Use targeted brain stimulation to correct dysfunctional circuits rather than only modeling genetic mutations in mice.
- Sillitoe created cerebellar-directed dysfunction in mice and reversed dystonia using deep brain stimulation to identify therapeutic targets.