The CoMMaND Lab has been awarded an R01 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to study the role of astrocytes in cortical folding. Astrocytes, along with oligodendrocytes and microglia, are glial cells, which are the most numerous cells in the brain by far. However, neurons have long been the primary focus of both experimental and computational investigations. With this funding, we aim to provide mechanistic insights into the spatiotemporal interactions between astrocyte behavior and tissue morphology. To do this, we draw on our own computational expertise, particularly in simulations of the developing brain, alongside the experimental capabilities of our collaborators, led by Prof. Hiroshi Kawasaki at Kanazawa University in Japan. The Kawasaki group is also funded to work on this project by the Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications, via the Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience program.