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Profil
| Derzeitige Stellung | Professor W-3 und Äquivalente |
|---|---|
| Fachgebiet | Evolutionäre Zell- und Entwicklungsbiologie der Tiere,Molekulare Biologie und Physiologie von Nerven- und Gliazellen |
| Keywords | zebrafish, axonal regeneration, learning and memory, plasticity |
Aktuelle Kontaktadresse
| Land | USA |
|---|---|
| Ort | Philadelphia |
| Universität/Institution | University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) |
| Institut/Abteilung | Department of Cell and Development Biology |
| Website | http://www.med.upenn.edu/granato/ |
Gastgeber*innen während der Förderung
| Dr. Darren Gilmour | Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, Europäisches Laboratorium für Molekularbiologie (EMBL), Heidelberg |
|---|---|
| Beginn der ersten Förderung | 01.11.2006 |
Programm(e)
| 2006 | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel-Forschungspreis-Programm |
|---|
Projektbeschreibung der*des Nominierenden
| Professor Granato is a developmental neurobiologist of international reputation and a pioneer of the use of zebrafish Danio rerio as a genetic model system for the study of axon pathfinding and sensorimotor behaviour. As a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Professor Granato developed an ingenious genetic screening assay, based on larval motility defects, that allowed him to identify a large number of mutants with aberrant neuronal and muscle development. When he moved to his own lab at the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Granato focused on an interesting class of these mutants that are characterised by having axon pathfinding or synaptic defects. By cloning the underlying genes, Dr. Granato demonstrated for the first time a role of MuSK receptor tyrosine signaling in guiding motor axons, and he also provided the first genetic evidence that glycosyltransferase modifications of the extracellular matrix play a critical role during vertebrate motor axon migration. Together with his ongoing interest in axon pathfinding, he has developed several elegant approaches to address the genetic basis of behaviour using the zebrafish and has already made a number of important contributions to the fascinating field. Through his research, Professor Granato improves our basic understanding of the most challenging problems in modern biology, namely, how the wiring of the vertebrate nervous system leads to complex behaviour. |