Emergence of a left-right symmetric body plan during embryonic development
Progression of zebrafish embryo development - from 12 hours until 20 hours post fertilization
Snapshot of the back side of a live zebrafish embryo 12 hours post fertilization acquired with a light-sheet microscope displaying the segmented tissues on both the left and right sides.
Shape change in an isolated somite
Laser ablation (green dashed line) adjacent to a somite leads to shape changes in a somite over time (yellow arrow)
Our approach
We use zebrafish as a model system to investigate emergence of left-right symmetric tissue shapes and sizes during embryonic development and explore the functional significance of having a symmetric body plan.
We undertake an interdisciplinary approach, combining in vivo and in vitro experiments with mechanical modelling to solve this long-standing problem in developmental biology.
We use advanced imaging and image analysis modules and perform extensive data analysis towards this aim.
We believe in open-access science and all protocols and data analysis softwares will be made free to download in public repositories.