Project Overview
Signaling mechanisms underlying sensory regeneration in the zebrafish
Department(s)
Biology
Neuroscience
Abstract
Loss of sensory cells, such as photoreceptors or sensory hair cells, leads to loss of function of their respective sensory systems. Since mammals cannot replace those missing cells, the loss of these cells in humans leads to permanent blindness, deafness or vestibular dysfunction. Other species such as fish can quickly regenerate these cells from sensory progenitor cells within the sense organs, readily restoring function in the systems. Our work focuses on the signaling mechanisms that coordinate this regeneration, from the signals indicating that there has been damage, to the cues to coordinate how many rounds of replication are necessary to appropriately replace the number of missing cells, and the signals that make sure they differentiate into the appropriate cells in the correct pattern to connect up and restore the function. The work utilizes genetic and pharmacological manipulation of key signaling pathways paired with methods to examine cell proliferation and cell fate of the resulting progeny.
Student Qualifications
Biol 182 or Neur 170
Project Length
10 weeks
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