Promotion of cortico-cerebral precursors expansion by artificial pri-miRNAs targeted against the Emx2 locus.

Emx2 encodes for a transcription factor controlling several aspects of cerebral cortex development. Its overexpression promotes self-renewal of young cortico-cerebral precursors, it promotes neuronal rather than gliogenic fates and it protects neuronal progenitors from cell death. These are all key activities for purposes of gene-promoted brain repair.