The Granato Lab at Penn

Using the zebrafish as an experimental model system, we study two fundamental topics of modern Neuroscience: axonal guidance and sensorimotor behavior. The zebrafish offers a powerful combination of forward genetics and exquisite cellular analysis: previous and ongoing genetic screens in our lab have identified many mutations that affect specifically axonal guidance or motor behavior. The transparent, externally developing embryos are accessible to numerous embryological manipulations, and a diverse repertoire of genomics tools, including GFP transgenics and selective gene inactivation allow for an unparalleled molecular and cellular analysis. Using these tools we focus on two research projects:

• the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which motor axons navigate to and form synaptic contacts with their synaptic muscle targets, and
• the cellular and molecular basis of sensorimotor gating behavior.