Chase Weinholtz

Program: Neurosciences

Current advisor: Mayssa H. Mokalled, PhD

Undergraduate university: Pitzer College, 2017

Enrollment year: 2021

Research summary
Genetic regulation of innate spinal cord regeneration in adult zebrafish

Spinal cord injury (SCI) permanently impairs motor and sensory function in mammals. In contrast, adult zebrafish spontaneously recover from SCI. Potent spinal progenitor cells, marked by sox2 expression, are activated after injury, giving rise to regenerating neurons and glia that support functional recovery. Early in the regeneration process, sox2 is upregulated in ependymal cells near the lesion site and enables progenitor activation. However, the genetic regulation of sox2 expression and progenitor cell activation during innate spinal cord repair are unknown. Here we report the genes encoding for BTB domain and CNC homology 1 (bach1) transcription factors, are upregulated in ependymal progenitors and required for transcriptional activation of Sox2+ progenitors after injury. Further, bach1 mutant fish show decreased activation of Sox2+ progenitors and impaired recovery after SCI. These studies established a requirement for bach1a/b during progenitor cell activation and innate spinal cord repair.

Graduate publications