Our Central Nervous System (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord, allows us to perceive, process and store information, and determines how we interact with our environment. Despite the importance of the CNS, little is understood about how it is assembled during embryogenesis. A failure in proper CNS development leads to a variety of birth defects, the most common of which is spina bifida, the leading cause of childhood paralysis in the United States. Our goal is to elucidate the underlying mechanisms controlling CNS development.

There are two essential aspects of CNS development: patterning, the mechanism that enables CNS cells to acquire distinct identities and thereby perform specialized tasks, and morphogenesis, the process that gives the CNS its shape and structure. Our current research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of neurulation, the initial phase of CNS morphogenesis during which the flattened epithelium of the neural plate is transformed into a neural tube that will form the brain and spinal cord. The zebrafish is an ideal model system for studying neurulation because the powerful genetics available allow us to identify new genes that are essential for this process. We have identified several mutations that disrupt specific aspects of neurulation and are characterizing them at the molecular and cellular level. The similarity between neurulation in zebrafish and in other vertebrates indicates that the molecular mechanisms we identify in the zebrafish will provide a valuable framework for exploring the basis of human disorders.