Our group investigates the mechanisms that control the early development of the vertebrate nervous system, mostly focusing on the assembly of the visual system. We are particularly interested in those aspects that may help pinpointing the causes of congenital malformations affecting the visual system or those related to the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, we are interested in elucidating a) the gene regulatory networks that mediated cell cohesion events underlying early steps of eye formation; b) the mechanisms that drive retinal pigmented epithelium specification and the role of this tissue in optic cup folding; c) the mechanisms that lead to the specification of the different visual structures and their connectivity and d) how primary genetic defects in one particular visual structure affects the connected brain areas. To reach these goals we combine genomic, imaging and embryological approaches using teleost fishes, chick and mice as experimental models. Our work takes advantage of long standing collaborations with different members of this network and of other internationally recognized teams.

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Paola Bovolenta Laboratory