Identifying mechanisms by which neuron-oligodendrocyte interactions regulate nervous system function and dysfunction using zebrafish as a model

Neural circuits, neurons interconnected by synapses, are vital for brain function and as such, it is important to establish mechanisms behind circuit formation to decipher how they are dysregulated in disease. Recent research by the Czopka lab has highlighted that the glial cell oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) play a role in regulating visual circuitry (Xiao et al., 2022). They found that OPCs regulate retinal ganglion cell (RGC) arbors, with an absence of OPCs leading to ectopic and enlarged RGCs and functional deficits in the behaviour of Zebrafish. My Phd research aims to establish how OPCs might be regulating RGC size, by investigating OPCs role in activity-dependent competition between RGC arbors and whether OPC:axon synapses stabilise RGC axons. Characterising presynapes of RGCs in the presence and absence of OPCs, silencing RGC activity, and perturbing OPC:axon synapses in the Zebrafish will help answer these questions