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Professor 129 Zoology Research Office: (608)265-3219 |
Affiliations: Genetics Training Program Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology Neuroscience Training Program |
ygrinblat@wisc.edu 
Lab
Webpage 
CV
We are working to understand how the staggering complexity of the vertebrate brain is formed during embryogenesis by identifying genetic interactions that govern the early steps of brain development. Our studies focus on two brain subdivisions, the forebrain (including the future cerebral cortex and thalamus) and midbrain (future optic tectum), and on the roles of the zic gene family of zinc finger transcription factors in their development. In humans, zic genes are critical for normal brain development since mutations in zics cause major birth defects, holoprosencephaly and neural tube closure defects. In spite of their obvious importance, the mechanism of their function is poorly understood. We use a model organism, the zebrafish Danio rerio, for our studies because zebrafish embryos are more accessible to experimentation than mammalian embryos and offer us a variety of powerful experimental techniques. Using both in vitro (molecular cloning) and in vivo methods, such as micro-dissection, transgenesis and mutagenesis, we are working to understand (1) how zic genes function and (2) how their precise patterns of expression are controlled during early brain formation. Ultimately, this work will help us understand the normal functions of zic genes, and the manner in which their failure to function contributes to brain abnormalities in humans.
Courses:
Zoology 151: Introductory Biology
Zoology 555: Laboratory in Developmental Biology
Graduate students currently supervised:
Molly Wagner Nyholm, Ph.D. candidate, Zoology
Molly’s research is aimed at understanding how the midbrain, including the optic tectum, is formed in the zebrafish embryos. The functions and transcriptional regulation of zic genes during midbrain formation are addressed in the context of the whole embryo, using antisense knock-down techniques and transgenesis.Nick Sanek, Ph.D. candidate, Genetics Training Program
Nick is investigating the role of zic2 during formation of the forebrain, the anterior-most derivative of the neural tube. He is combining the techniques of reverse genetics (antisense knock-down assays) and forward genetics (identification of chromosomal lesions in zic gene loci) to understand the mechanism of zic function.
Students supervised who've recently earned graduate degrees:
Tina Samuels, CMB Training Program. Non-thesis Masters Degree, January 2005.
Other Lab members
Matt Gillhouse, Technician
Nyholm M., Wu, S-F., Dorsky R. I., Grinblat Y. (2007) The zebrafish zic2a-5 gene pair acts downstream of canonical Wnt signaling to control cell proliferation in the developing tectum. Development, 134:735-746
Gillhouse, M. W. Nyholm, H. Hikasa, S.Y. Sokol, Y. Grinblat (2004) Two Frodo/Dapper homologs are expressed in the developing brain and mesoderm of zebrafish. Dev. Dynamics 230, 403-409.
E. Wiellette, Y. Grinblat, M. Austen, E. Hirsinger, A. Amsterdam, C. Walker, N. Hopkins, M. Westerfield, H.L. Sive (2004). A combined haploid and insertional mutation screen in the zebrafish. Genesis 40:231-240
Grinblat, Y. and Sive, H. (2001) zic gene expression marks anteroposterior pattern in the presumptive neurectoderm of the zebrafish gastrula. Dev. Dyn. 222(4):688-693.
Wiellette, E., Grinblat, Y., Austen, M., Hopkins, N., and Sive, H. (2001) An insertional screen for identification of genes required for neural induction and patterning in the zebrafish. FASEB J. 15(5):A1071.
Grinblat, Y., Gamse, J., Patel, M., and Sive, H. (1998) Determination of the zebrafish forebrain: induction and patterning. Development 125:4403-4416.
Sagerström, C.G., Grinblat, Y., and Sive, H. (1996) Anteroposterior patterning in the zebrafish, Danio rerio: an explant assay reveals inductive and suppressive cell interactions. Development 122:1873-1883.
Book chapters
Grinblat, Lane, Sagerström and Sive (1999). Analysis of Zebrafish development using explant culture assays. In The Zebrafish: Methods in Cell Biology, vol. 59 (ed. H. W. Dietrich, M. Westerfield and L. Zon). pp. 127-159. San Diego: Academic Press.
Zebrafish research community in Madison
Useful zebrafish links
