Research
Research in the Mruk lab focuses on two central problems. First, we aim to harness the regenerative power of zebrafish to better understand the molecular and cellular processes involved in the central nervous system after disease or injury. Second, we aim to develop new chemogenetic and optogenetic tools for the developmental and regenerative biology communities to advance research moving forward.
Understanding cellular interactions after injury
After a spinal cord injury, innate immune cells (red) move in to clean up the debris before the process of glial bridging (green) can occur. The Mruk lab is interested in understanding what signals are used to recruit these cells, remove these cells, and permit glial to form the regenerative bridge.
Developing new optogenetic tools
Optogenetic tools that afford spatiotemporal control over transcription and translation are valuable tools to study gene regulation in older animals. We used a photoactivatable transcription factor (GAVPO) to control gene expression and cell ablation in zebrafish embryos.