Prof Vince Tropepe's lab using zebrafish as a vertebrate model for Usher Syndrome-linked blindness
CSB Chair Vincent Tropepe has received funding from Fighting Blindness Canada to conduct research using zebrafish to study Usher syndrome, a genetic condition that results in hearing and vision loss. Loss of vision in Usher syndrome is the result of retinal degeneration, but the mechanism through which degeneration happens in unknown.
Clues to the way retinal degeneration happens in Usher syndrome can be found in the zebrafish model organism. The gene that is altered in 20% of humans with Usher syndrome is also present in zebrafish, and mutations in zebrafish that mimic the Usher-linked changes in this 'protocadherin' gene can result in reduced hearing and vision.
When the zebrafish protocadherin protein Pcdh15b is mutated in the lab, the integrity of the outer segment of retinal cells, the region that captures light, is compromised. Mutants have a progressive loss of photoreceptor outer segments, which can be attenuated by darkness or exacerbated by light exposure.
The Tropepe lab will characterize the subcellular defects that underscore photoreceptor degeneration, identify Pcdh15b-binding proteins to reveal novel Pcdh15-dependent mechanisms for photoreceptor maintenance, and catalogue the different forms of Pcdh15b to identify ones that will prevent retinal degeneration as a potential gene therapy.
We are grateful to Fighting Blindness Canada for their support; you can read more about their funded research and also donate to them here.
CSB neurobiologists identify switch that turns muscles on and off during sleep
CSB Professor John Peever, CSB PhD grad Zoltan Torontali and CSB RA Jimmy Fraigne have demonstrated a new link between arousal and muscle paralysis in mice using behavioral, electrophysiological, and chemogenetic strategies in a paper in Current Biology.
During REM sleep, muscle paralysis is induced by a region of the brain called the Sublaterodorsal Tegmental Nucleus (SLD). Involuntary muscle paralysis during wakefulness can occur in the natural phenomenon of cataplexy, whereas sleep is involuntarily induced in narcolepsy.
Prof Peever’s lab found that activation of SLD neurons in both narcoleptic and normal mice promotes cataplexy, whereas SLD silencing prevents cataplexy. This region of the brain therefore couples arousal state and motor activity during REM sleep and wakefulness.
This new understanding has the potential to treat muscular disorders in humans. In Parkinsons’s disease, the affected person’s muscles are in a continual state of rigour during wakefulness, but this rigour relaxes during REM sleep. Prof Peever dreams of helping Parkinson’s patients by applying this new understanding of the SLD to tune their muscle tension during wakefulness.
You can read more about this insight in a story from UofT News and in the Current Biology paper.
Neuroscientist Dr Jessica Pressey joins CSB in 2020 as Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
We are fortunate to have recruited Jessica Pressey to CSB as an Assistant Professor, Teaching-Stream (3-year CLTA) as of Jan 1, 2020. Professor Pressey graduated with a PhD from Dean Woodin's lab in 2015 and completed postdoctoral research at INSERM's Institut du Fer à Moulin in Paris, France.
Her field of expertise is synaptic transmission, neuroplasticity, and brain development and as such she will be a valuable addition to CSB's Animal Physiology Major program and for CSB research project course students studying electrophysiology.
Congratulations, Professor Pressey!
Graduate student excellence recognized in the 2019-2020 Graduate Student Awards
The academic excellence, research potential and leadership abilities of Cell & Systems Biology graduate students was recognized in award presentations at the 2019 CSB Holiday Party held in the Madison Avenue Pub on December 6th, 2019.
Professor Dinesh Christendat announced the recipients of a number of prizes, scholarships, fellowships and awards. Through the generosity of private donors and matching funds from the University, a substantial number of endowments have been established to provide these internal awards to CSB graduate students. Many of these awards are provided as a top-up to the student’s base stipend.
Congratulations to all the graduate students who were granted these acknowledgements of their hard work, persistence and eloquence!
The CSB Forefront is a fascinating digital magazine produced by CSB graduate students
The inaugural volume of Cell & Systems Biology's graduate student newsletter is out! The CSB Forefront covers many aspects of life in grad school. Faculty profiles give insights into what motivates CSB professors. Graduate student life is covered in housing profiles, lifestyle surveys and book reviews. Conference presentations and research publications from CSB labs are celebrated. There are articles on finding jobs after graduation and new initiatives to boost your career profile.
Chief editors Francis Lee and Tatiana Ruiz Bedoya drive this project with the objective of strengthening CSB's sense of community by celebrating student achievements and by discussing shared interests and struggles. The CSB Forefront also provides a safe and inclusive platform for graduate students to share their ideas and experiences. In this spirit, the Forefront team is always looking for a graduate student who wants to express their ideas either via text or visuals. If you have something you would like to share with our community, contact details are in the newsletter!
CSB397 Research Abroad course provides new skills and new experiences
Our undergraduate CSB397 course provides the opportunity to conduct scientific research in academic labs around the world. In 2019, we had 17 students going to Singapore (NUS), Japan (Riken), Denmark (Copenhagen), Germany (Konstanz), Scotland (Strathclyde) or England (City). Upon returning to Canada, students present a final report or poster to the Department describing the results of their experiments.
CSB students Echo Jing and Stephanie Le agreed to share their experience as research students in Singapore. They highlight the experiential learning opportunity provided by the course: “This was the first time I’d worked in a molecular cellular lab,” Echo says. “I learned experimental research techniques and that gave me insight into what a real molecular cellular researcher does in a real lab setting. I also learned how to approach problems critically as a researcher.”
More details on CSB397 can be found under International Experience on the CSB website. Entry to this course is limited, and the deadline to apply for Summer 2020 is December 3, 2019.