Nechiporuk lab home page

Alex Nechiporuk laboratory

Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

How to find us:

OHSU
School of Medicine
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd
Basic Sciences L215
Portland, OR 97239

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Research Goals

Our lab is interested in understanding how naïve progenitor cells segregate to give rise to diverse cell types that eventually form an organ. The question of organ formation is even more profound and challenging when applied to a vertebrate nervous system, where hundreds of cell types exist. We address this question in the context of cranial placodes , placode-derived sensory ganglia, and zebrafish lateral line system. Development of placode-derived sensory components of the peripheral nervous system are essential for the formation of cranial sensory systems such as somatosensation and taste. The improper development of the cranial sensory system has been implicated in many human disorders, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, migraines, bladder overactivity, erectile dysfunction, heart failure, arrhythmia, and others. Thus, uncovering genes that specify cranial placodes and ganglia should provide better understanding for the mechanisms underlying these

The mechanosensory lateral line system of aquatic vertebrates is used to detect displacement of water and controls various types of swimming behavior. The lateral line provides an excellent system for studying basic biological processes, such as collective cell migration, (see lateral line primordium migration movie) and specification, organ morphogenesis and patterning in the genetically-tractable model system such as zebrafish.

Model System

zebrafish picture

Zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model system for understanding vertebrate development. In addition to experimental embryology, zebrafish is one of the few vertebrate model systems that are easily amenable to classical genetic approaches. Advantages of zebrafish include:

small size
relatively short generation times
embryo transparency
external development allowing easy manipulation
advanced genetics, including transgenesis and mutagenesis,
full-length, annotated genome nearing completion.

We use many of these advantages as well as lineage analyses, cell ablation, and cell transplantation to study development of the cranial placodes and ganglia and the lateral line system in zebrafish.