Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors regulating neurogenic competence in hypothalamic tanycytes

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Hypothalamic tanycytes have limited postnatal neurogenic competence, but the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that promote this are not well understood. My predoctoral research identified a defined developmental window during which neurogenic competence is lost from hypothalamic tanycytes. I have also identified the neurogenic bHLH transcription factor Ascl1 as a candidate activator of neurogenic competence in tanycytes and identified Shh signaling as potentially promoting the survival of tanycyte-derived neurons. In the F99 phase of this award, I will investigate whether AAV-mediated overexpression of Ascl1 induces neurogenic competence and whether Shh signaling promotes the survival of tanycyte-derived neurons using cell-specific conditional genetic approaches. During the K00 phase, I will pursue postdoctoral training using zebrafish as a model to identify gene regulatory networks controlling injury-induced hypothalamic neural regeneration, identifying yet uncharacterized extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms that regulate neurogenic competence in tanycyte-like radial glial cells. By comparing these findings to data obtained from mammalian tanycytes, I plan to identify both positive and negative regulators of neurogenic competence that could be manipulated to induce the tanycyte-derived generation of specific hypothalamic neuronal cell types for treatment of metabolic and other homeostatic disorders. These opportunities will advance my career as a neuroscientist and prepare me for a principal investigator role at an R1 institution studying tanycyte biology and hypothalamic regeneration.