About

How is neuronal connectivity patterned during development and regeneration?

Research topics

• Biology
• Cell biology
• Anatomy
• Neuroscience
• Composite material
• Genetics
• Materials science
• Biophysics

Selected publications

• Zebrafish sall1a and sall4 contribute to body elongation

  Developmental Biology · 2025-06-05

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Correction: PIK3CAH1047R- and Her2-initiated mammary tumors escape PI3K dependency by compensatory activation of MEK-ERK signaling

  Oncogene · 2025-01-31 · 1 citations

  erratumOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Position-independent functional refinement within the vagus motor topographic map

  Cell Reports · 2024-09-24 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  Motor neurons in the central nervous system often lie in a continuous topographic map, where neurons that innervate different body parts are spatially intermingled. This is the case for the efferent neurons of the vagus nerve, which innervate diverse muscle and organ targets in the head and viscera for brain-body communication. It remains elusive how neighboring motor neurons with different fixed peripheral axon targets develop the separate somatodendritic (input) connectivity they need to generate spatially precise body control. Here, we show that vagus motor neurons in the zebrafish indeed generate spatially appropriate peripheral responses to focal sensory stimulation even when they are transplanted into ectopic positions within the topographic map, indicating that circuit refinement occurs after the establishment of coarse topography. Refinement depends on motor neuron synaptic transmission, suggesting that an experience-dependent periphery-to-brain feedback mechanism establishes specific input connectivity among intermingled motor populations.

  PublisherDOI

• Development and regeneration of the vagus nerve

  Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology · 2023-08-01 · 10 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Position-independent functional refinement within the vagus motor topographic map

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2023-09-13 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Motor neurons in the central nervous system often lie in a continuous topographic map, where neurons that innervate different body parts are spatially intermingled. This is the case for the efferent neurons of the vagus nerve, which innervate diverse muscle and organ targets in the head and viscera for brain-body communication. It remains elusive how neighboring motor neurons with different fixed peripheral axon targets develop the separate somatodendritic (input) connectivity they need to generate spatially precise body control. Here we show that vagus motor neurons in the zebrafish indeed generate spatially appropriate peripheral responses to focal sensory stimulation even when they are transplanted into ectopic positions within the topographic map, indicating that circuit refinement occurs after the establishment of coarse topography. Refinement depends on motor neuron synaptic transmission, suggesting that an experience-dependent periphery-to-brain feedback mechanism establishes specific input connectivity amongst intermingled motor populations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Met is required for oligodendrocyte progenitor cell migration in <i>Danio rerio</i>

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2021-05-23 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract During vertebrate central nervous system development, most oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are specified in the ventral spinal cord and must migrate throughout the neural tube until they become evenly distributed, occupying non-overlapping domains. While this process of developmental OPC migration is well characterized, the nature of the molecular mediators that govern it remain largely unknown. Here, using zebrafish as a model, we demonstrate that Met signaling is required for initial developmental migration of OPCs, and, using cell-specific knock-down of Met signaling, show that Met acts cell-autonomously in OPCs. Taken together, these findings demonstrate in vivo, the role of Met signaling in OPC migration and provide new insight into how OPC migration is regulated during development.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The field of neurogenetics: where it stands and where it is going

  G3 Genes Genomes Genetics · 2021-08-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Intrinsic positional memory guides target-specific axon regeneration in the zebrafish vagus nerve

  Development · 2021 · 23 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Neuroscience
  • Anatomy

  Regeneration after peripheral nerve damage requires that axons re-grow to the correct target tissues in a process called target-specific regeneration. Although much is known about the mechanisms that promote axon re-growth, re-growing axons often fail to reach the correct targets, resulting in impaired nerve function. We know very little about how axons achieve target-specific regeneration, particularly in branched nerves that require distinct targeting decisions at branch points. The zebrafish vagus motor nerve is a branched nerve with a well-defined topographic organization. Here, we track regeneration of individual vagus axons after whole-nerve laser severing and find a robust capacity for target-specific, functional re-growth. We then develop a new single-cell chimera injury model for precise manipulation of axon-environment interactions and find that (1) the guidance mechanism used during regeneration is distinct from the nerve's developmental guidance mechanism, (2) target selection is specified by neurons' intrinsic memory of their position within the brain, and (3) targeting to a branch requires its pre-existing innervation. This work establishes the zebrafish vagus nerve as a tractable regeneration model and reveals the mechanistic basis of target-specific regeneration.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The field of neurogenetics: where it stands and where it is going

  Genetics · 2021-08-01 · 2 citations

  editorialOpen access1st author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Met is required for oligodendrocyte progenitor cell migration in <i>Danio rerio</i>

  G3 Genes Genomes Genetics · 2021-07-27 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  During vertebrate central nervous system development, most oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are specified in the ventral spinal cord and must migrate throughout the neural tube until they become evenly distributed, occupying non-overlapping domains. While this process of developmental OPC migration is well characterized, the nature of the molecular mediators that govern it remain largely unknown. Here, using zebrafish as a model, we demonstrate that Met signaling is required for initial developmental migration of OPCs, and, using cell-specific knock-down of Met signaling, show that Met acts cell-autonomously in OPCs. Taken together, these findings demonstrate in vivo, the role of Met signaling in OPC migration and provide new insight into how OPC migration is regulated during development.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Spatiotemporal mechanisms of in vivo axon initiation and targeting during development

  NIH · $197k · 2019–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Jonathan Boulanger-Weill

  Harvard University

  19 shared

• Cecilia B. Moens

  Fred Hutch Cancer Center

  19 shared

• Fabiana Cerqueira Campos

  19 shared

• Cornelia Fritsch

  University of Fribourg

  15 shared

• Cynthia Dennis

  Genetique Reproduction and Developpement

  11 shared

• Vincent Mirouse

  Inserm

  11 shared

• Olivier Bardot

  11 shared

• Hervé Alégot

  11 shared

Labs

• The Isabella LabPI

Awards & honors

• Pathways to Independence K99/R00, National Institute of Neur…