Research from the Kucenas Lab Highlighted in UVA Today

September 6, 2019

Just published in the online journal, Cell, research from the Kucenas lab is answering questions that have long gone unanswered in the world of developmental biology. Sarah Kucenas, a UVA professor of biology, cell biology and neuroscience and a member of the UVA Brain Institute, worked with recently graduated Ph.D. student Yunlu Zhu and undergraduate neuroscience student Samantha Crowley to determine how dead cells are cleared away to make room for newly developing cells in the embryonic stages of vertebrates. Using zebrafish as the study model, Zhu discovered that neural crest cells in the embryonic nervous system take on the task of dead cell removal early in the developmental process.  To read the full article, please click here

Photo: Zebrafish embryo neural crest cells (in blue) remove dead cells prior to the development of immune system cells that will take on that task. (Image by Yunlu Zhu)