Zebrafish Fin Regeneration

Description of projects available to graduate students:
Background:
Zebrafish have the remarkable ability to regenerate fin and heart tissue following amputation. This regenerative capacity is also present in the healing of tails in the larvae. From studies in several groups, signaling molecules, such as FGFs, Wnts, BMP and sonic hedgehog all play a role in regeneration. Our lab is interested in dissecting the role of FGF signaling in development and in tail regeneration. We have identified a chemical compound that activates FGF signaling in the zebrafish embryo. This provides a new tool to probe the role of FGF signaling in tail regeneration. The use of the compounds that activate or block FGF signaling will determine the impact this signaling pathway has on the regenerating tail. At a molecular level, it will be possible to isolate RNA and proteins following treatment to understand what genes or proteins FGF signaling controls during fin regeneration.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
Techniques Graduate Student will learn.
Zebrafish embryology.
Microinjection of RNA, DNA and antisense Morpholinos into embryos.
Whole mount In situ hybridization
Whole mount Immunostaining
Standard DNA subcloning techniques
Standard protein analysis and proteomics.