Rubi Tanimura

Rubi Tanimura is an undergraduate in the Karlstrom lab working on her honors thesis research project. Using a new transgenic tool developed by the lab, the Tet-ON system, Rubi is manipulating Shh levels to determine hedgehog’s post-embryonic roles in neural precursor cell proliferation in the zebrafish ventral forebrain. She is studying the roles of Shh pathway target genes such as cell cycle genes to verify the Tet-ON system is changing Shh levels in the ventral forebrain. Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cell proliferation in the ventral forebrain could aid in the development of therapies for those suffering from degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and cancers such as medulloblastoma.