Michael Granato, Ph.D., Professor Of Cell And Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine
Unlike axons of the central nervous system, axons of the peripheral nervous system have retained the capacity to remake functional synapses even after complete nerve transection. Yet despite their unique ability to re-make functional connections, we know remarkably little about how peripheral axons, such as motor axons re-connect with their original muscle targets. This is in part because the dynamic behavior of injured axons as they respond to insults, interact with neighboring Schwann cells, and begin to pioneer a path towards their original targets, has not been examined in real time, in intact vertebrate animals. We have established a laser based nerve transection model in zebrafish, enabling us to visualize the cellular behaviors of transected axons and neighboring Schwann cells simultaneously, in real time, in an intact vertebrate animal (1, 2). Using this model we screened a library of existing zebrafish mutant lines to identify molecular entry points into the process of peripheral nerve regeneration (3, 4). I will discuss progress on ongoing projects aimed to understand the cellular and molecular mechanism that promote peripheral nerve regeneration.
1) Rosenberg et al J.Neuroscience 2012
2) Rosenberg et al J.Neuroscience 2014
3) Isaacman-Beck et al, Neuron 2015.
4) Gribble et al, Nature Communications, in revision.
Reception starting at 3:30 PM
