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Neuroscience Graduate Program at UCSF
Genetic Architecture of Visual Perception and Behavior
Our group is exploring the relationships between genes, neural circuits, and behavior in zebrafish. In an unbiased approach, we let biology guide us to the places in the brain and the loci in the genome that are important for functions of the visual system. We are interested in both assembly and function of the neural circuitry that is underlying behavior.
Forward genetic screens carried out in our lab have uncovered over 100 genetic loci, many of which have now been molecularly identified. Mutations of these genes perturb visual processing of visual stimuli and disrupt behavioral responses, often in highly specific ways.
One focus of the lab is on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). The RGCs connect the eye to the higher visual centers and thus reside at a central position in the visual pathway. We are particularly interested in the genetic control of RGC differentiation, diversification, and synaptic targeting. Some of the genes studied by us may be used in the future as tools to manipulate the subtype composition, activity, and target specificity of RGCs in transgenic fish.
In a complementary approach to forward genetics, we are investigating the neural circuitry underlying visual perception in transgenic fish using remote optical control. Some of the molecular tools we have adopted to the fish system include channelrhodopsin and the light-gated glutamate receptor (LiGluR), which we express in select subpopulations of neurons using the GAL4/UAS system.
The exciting task for the future will be to combine mutations and optical-genetic manipulations with a detailed psychophysical analysis for the complete dissection of a complex behavioral program.
*Remote optical control of neuronal activity.
*Genetic dissection of visual behavior.
*Psychophysics of visually mediated behaviors.
*Zebrafish models of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Herwig Baier
PI
Tong Xiao
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ethan Scott
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mike Taylor
Postdoctoral Fellow
Filippo Del Bene
Postdoctoral Fellow
Peter Schoonheim
Postdoctoral Fellow
Limor Ziv
Postdoctoral Fellow
Karin Finger-Baier
Mapping Specialist
Wendy Staub
Lab Manager
Aristides Arrenberg
Graduate Student
Linda Nevin
Graduate Student
Nathan Gosse
Graduate Student
Lindsay Mason
Technician
Orger MB, Smear MC, Anstis SM, Baier H (2000) Perception of Fourier and non-Fourier motion by larval zebrafish. Nature Neuroscience 3: 1128–1133.
Kay J.N., Finger-Baier K.C. (co-first), Roeser T., Staub W., Baier H. (2001) Retinal ganglion cell genesis requires lakritz, a zebrafish atonal homolog. Neuron 30: 725-736.
Page-McCaw P., Chung S. C., Muto A., Roeser T., Staub W., Finger-Baier K. C., Korenbrot J. I., Baier H. (2004) Tyrosinase is required for retinal network adaptation to bright light. Nature Neuroscience 7: 1329-1336.
Hua Y., Smear M. C., Baier H., Smith S. J. (2005) Activity-based competition regulates axon growth in vivo. Nature 434: 1022-1026.
Mumm J.S., Williams P.R., Godinho L., Koerber A., Pittman A.J., Roeser T., Chien C.B., Baier H., Wong R.O. In vivo imaging reveals dendritic targeting of laminated afferents by zebrafish retinal ganglion cells. Neuron 52: 609-621 (2006).
Smear M.C., Tao H.W., Staub W., Orger M.B., Gosse N.J., Liu Y., Takahashi K.D., Poo M.M., Baier H. Vesicular glutamate transport at a central synapse limits the the acuity of visual perception in zebrafish. Neuron 53: 65-77 (2007).
Scott E.K., Mason L., Arrenberg A., Ziv L., Gosse N.J., Xiao T., Chi N.C., Asakawa K., Kawakami K., Baier H. Targeting neural circuitry in zebrafish using GAL4 enhancer trapping. Nature Methods 4: 323-326 (2007).
Szobota S., Gorostiza P., Del Bene F., Wyart C., Fortin D.L., Kolstad K., Tulathan O., Volgraf M., Numano R., Aaron H., Scott E.K., Kramer R., Flannery J., Baier H., Trauner D., Isacoff E.Y. Remote control of neuronal activity with a light-gated glutamate receptor. Neuron 54:535-545 (2007).
Xiao T., Baier H. Lamina-specific axonal projections in the zebrafish tectum require the type IV collagen Dragnet. Nature Neuroscience, in press (2007).
Back to TopHerwig Baier, Ph.D.
Phone
415-502-4301
Physical Address
Rock Hall
1550 4th Street
Room RH-348F
Mailing Address
1550 4th Street
Box 2722
San Francisco, CA 94158-2324
For Internal Campus Mail
Box 2722
Other Websites