We study myelinated axon biology in the living animal, using zebrafish as a model. Myelinated axons are essential for normal nervous system development, health, function, and disruption to myelin sheath and associated axons is associated with many human diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS) and motor neurone disease (MND).
Our lab uses zebrafish because one can study myelinated axon biology at multiple scales: we identify new genes required for myelination, and new drug-like compounds that can regulate myelination at a molecular level. Because of the transparency of the animal we can study the cell biology of myelinated axon formation as it happens in the living animal, and the pathologies that emerge when myelin is damaged. In addition, we can study how healthy or damaged myelin affects associated neurons, and neural circuits. It is by studying such cell-cell interactions that we hope to gain insights into disease processes and identify mechanisms that can be targeted therapeutically.
