MCPH1 and cancer: BRIT1, Microcephalin), plays a role in brain development (Jackson et al., 1998, 2002), DNA damage repair (Xu et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2005; Peng et al., 2009), chromosome condensation (Neitzel et al., 2002; Trimborn et al., 2004; Yamashita et al., 2011), cancer (Chaplet et al., 2006; Rai et al., 2006; Richardson et al., 2011), germline function (Liang et al., 2010), and has also provided insights into brain evolution (Evans et al., 2004, 2005; Wang and Su, 2004; Ponting and Jackson, 2005).