The blind cavefish: Unravelling the mechanisms underlying heart regeneration
Whereas the human heart has no inherent ability to regenerate cardiac muscle after myocardial infarction, certain fish efficiently repair their hearts. Astyanax mexicanus, a close relative of the zebrafish, is a single fish species comprising cave-dwelling and surface river populations. Remarkably, while surface fish regenerate their heart after injury, cavefish cannot and form a permanent fibrotic scar, similar to humans. The difference in heart regeneration capacity within one species makes Astyanax mexicanus a unique and powerful model to link the ability for heart regeneration directly to the genome using Quantitative Trait Loci analysis. This allows us to study the most fundamental molecular mechanisms that are prerequisite to creating a cellular environment favouring heart regeneration over scarring. Preliminary results indicate that we will be able link the ability for heart regeneration directly to a small number of loci containing a limited number of genes.
Date:
16 October 2015, 13:00 (Friday, 1st week, Michaelmas 2015)
Venue:
Sherrington Building, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details:
Large Lecture Theatre, Sherrington Building, DPAG
Speaker:
Dr Tilly Mommersteeg (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Organising department:
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organiser:
Sarah Noujaim (University of Oxford, Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics)
Organiser contact email address:
sarah.noujaim@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Professor Peter Robbins (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Part of:
DPAG Head of Department Seminar Series
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Sarah Noujaim
