Overview
The Granato lab combines the optical clarity of zebrafish with live cell imaging and molecular/reverse genetic tools to tackle two fundamental questions in Neuroscience:
- What are the molecular programs that enable axonal regeneration in the PNS and the CNS, molecularly how different are from each other and from well-studied signaling pathways that regulate axonal wiring during development?
- What are the molecular and circuit level mechanisms underlying autism and schizophrenia relevant behaviors such as decision making, learning and social interactions?
These questions address fundamental question in neuroscience, and have significant relevance for human health. To get at this questions we use a variety of state of the art approaches, ranging from RNASeq, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and small molecule screens to whole brain activity imaging and live, laser mediate axon transections and live cell imaging at the single cell level to capture axon glia interactions.