Chuang Lab Research
Left-Right Asymmetry in Brain Development
The Chuang lab studies how left-right asymmetry of the developing nervous system is established using the simple nervous system in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, composed of just 302 neurons, to uncover fundamental mechanisms that are likely to be used in the human brain.
Left-right differences in anatomical structures and functions of the central nervous system are present throughout the animal kingdom. Left-right asymmetry has been implicated as an important aspect of normal brain development and function in humans; reduction or reversal of brain asymmetry has been linked to neurological disorders including developmental dyslexia, schizophrenia, depression and autism. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the brain asymmetry are unclear.
Join the Lab
Graduate students are invited to work on potential projects that include cell biological study of retrograde signaling in axons, gene expression profiling in an innexin gap junction network, and identification of new regulators in the signaling pathways that create neuronal diversity using forward (EMS mutagenesis) and reverse (RNAi) genetic approaches. Contact Chiou-Fen Chuang, chiou-fen.chuang@cchmc.org, if you are interested in our work.
