Role of the cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) as a neurotrophin in Zebrafish neurogenesis

研究负责“听觉”的感觉细胞和检测前庭系统中重力、平衡和线性加速度的细胞是如何形成的，是一个引人注目的细胞和工程问题。 通过研究耳朵是如何形成的，科学家们可以学习如何修复失聪或功能失调的内耳。 人类和其他哺乳动物无法恢复失去的听力，因为感觉细胞和神经元没有再生能力，不像鸟类，青蛙和鱼类。 斑马鱼内耳的形成比哺乳动物更容易研究，因为发育发生在母体之外，而且非常迅速（几小时-几天而不是几周-几个月），可以在活体动物中进行真实的时间跟踪和成像。它的神经系统和免疫系统具有共同的进化机制和对发育和修复都很重要的分子。这些实验使用了创新的生物工程技术，包括将分子注入斑马鱼胚胎内耳的特定细胞，以及微流体斑马鱼生物反应器，可以支持活胚胎的生长和发育。生物学和工程学的研究生和本科生将有一个独特的培训机会，无论是在实验室和工程设计课程，设计（并可能获得专利）新的斑马鱼生物反应器设计，使用先进的成像技术和分子电穿孔技术将分子移入斑马鱼内耳。将向生物工程、发育生物学、神经科学、免疫学和斑马鱼研究界传播新技术和新方法。这些研究为跨学科合作，教学，指导和学习提供了一个很好的机会。 工程师将学习生物学，生物学家将学习从本科到博士后的工程原理。

Studying how sensory cells responsible for "hearing" and cells that detect gravity, balance and linear acceleration in the vestibular system form is a compelling cellular and engineering problem. By studying how the ear forms, scientists can learn how to repair a deaf or dysfunctional inner ear. Humans and other mammals cannot restore lost hearing because sensory cells and neurons do not have the capability to regenerate, unlike birds, frogs and fish. Zebrafish inner ear formation is easier to study than mammals because development takes place outside the mother and is extremely rapid (hrs-days rather than weeks-months), can be followed and imaged in the living animal in real time. Its nervous system and the immune system share common evolutionary mechanisms and molecules important for both development and repair. These experiments use innovative bioengineering technology, including molecules injected and moved by current into specific cells of the zebrafish embryonic inner ear, and microfluidic zebrafish bioreactors that can support the growth and development of the living embryo.Graduate and undergraduate students in biology and engineering will have a unique training opportunity both in the laboratory and in engineering design courses to devise (and possibly patent) new zebrafish bioreactor designs, to use advanced imaging techniques and molecular electroporation techniques in moving molecules into the zebrafish inner ear. New technologies and approaches will be disseminated to the bioengineering, developmental biology, neuroscience, immunology and zebrafish research communities. These studies provide an excellent opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaboration, teaching, mentoring and learning. Engineers will learn biology and biologists will learn engineering principles from the level of undergraduates to postdocs.