Christine Nevt, PhD

Position:
Senior Research Associate Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

Phone:
02 9295 8535

Email:
c.nevt@victorchang.unsw.edu.au

Current or Past Study:
I worked on the mechanism controlling tangential migration from the ventral to dorsal telencephalon. I found that in the border region separating the pallium from the subpallium, is a region which to provide a short range repellent for tangentially migrating neurons. I was studying the development of fin musculature. Using DiI injections and transplantation experiments I demonstrated that cells located in the anterior somites migrate to the pectoral fin bud and differentiate into muscles. Using in situ hybridisation I showed that these cells express LBX and MyoD. Thus the process of pectoral fin formation in zebrafish diverge from the way fin musculature is formed in cartilaginous fish and resembles the advanced mechanism of limb muscle formation characteristic of amniotes. I am now documenting fin development in other fish species to get some insight as to where in evolution the more advanced mechanism has arisen.