Raymond Lab

The research in Pamela Raymond's laboratory is concerned with retinal neurogenesis, neural stem cells, and regeneration. The overall objective is to understand the molecular basis of cell-cell interactions that regulate retinal neurogenesis (the formation of neurons) and neuronal specificity (the expression of differentiated cellular features) during development and regeneration. We use zebrafish as a model system, and we concentrate on a selected subset of molecular interactions that are likely to be involved in determination of cell fate in retinal stem cells and progenitor cells: cell surface signaling molecules - such as the cadherin family of adhesion molecules, the Notch-Delta signaling pathway, and other signaling systems, and transcriptional regulators - especially the family of paired-like homeodomain proteins that have been implicated in the regionalization of brain territories, the control of proliferation, and the determination of specified progenitor cells and differentiated cell fates. We are also interested in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal pattern formation, especially the formation of precise arrays of cone photoreceptors in the teleost fish retina.