Establishment of Left-Right Asymmetric Neural Circuits

Every human can perform several tasks simultaneously. One reason for this multifunctionality is left-right differences in brain performance. If and how these functional asymmetries may correlate with anatomical brain asymmetries and influence our daily life and behavior is still a fundamental question in neuroscience. To assess this enigma we need to elucidate the development of a left-right asymmetric neural circuit and elucidate the genetic network important for its establishment.

We use the conserved zebrafish habenular neural circuit as a model and combine genetics, transgenesis and in vivo confocal time-lapse imaging to elucidate the function of the Wnt/beta-catenin signalling in the establishment of neuroanatomical asymmetries.

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