Presenter(s): Tova Kruss
Faculty Mentor(s): Dylan Farnsworth & Adam Miller
Poster 5
Session: Sciences
Unlike mammals, Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) are unique in that they can regenerate their nervous systems. The genetic expression involved in Zebrafish nervous system regeneration remains widely uninvestigated, however with potential applications in mammalian cell therapy and injury recovery, it remains a critical area of ongoing research. Throughout the following experiments, the spinal cord of Zebrafish was used as a simplified model for the entire connectome, with regeneration initiated through mechanical lesioning. To narrow the scope of the inquiry gene expression exploration focused on the neural progenitor lineage of olig2 expressing cells, a subset of neurons including motor neurons and glia. Through the utilization of single cell RNA sequencing gene expression during regeneration was assessed on a cell by cell basis, and Vimentin was found as an exciting candidate gene for further study due to the high degree of specific expression of this gene in regenerating cells.