EAGER: Targeted disruption of neural processes in zebrafish using femtosecond laser pulses to dissect the functional anatomy of the nervous system

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

1050134 Schaffer One way to elucidate the function of part of a system is to disrupt and break that part and observe the effect. Using molecular biology tools, this method has led to a better understanding of the genetic origins of many diseases through studies of knock-out and knock-in transgenic animals, for example. While such genetic manipulation technologies are very advanced, techniques for physical disruption, especially of very fine-scale or difficult to access structures, remain crude. Development of technologies that allow specifically targeted structures to be disrupted with sub-micrometer spatial precision, without significant collateral effects, and in native, in vivo environments would open the door to a variety of studies that could match the impact transgenic experiments have had. Femtosecond laser pulses have the unique capability to deposit energy into a microscopic volume in the bulk of a transparent material without affecting the surface of the material. The PI proposes to develop and use this capability to disrupt specifically targeted structures in the nervous system of live animals with the goal of elucidating function. In particular, to study the neural basis of behavior by dissecting neural circuits through cuts to individual axons and dendrites in zebrafish hindbrain.