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Dr Savani Anbalagan's Zebrafish Developmental Neurobiology Research Group Website

The Adam Mickiewicz University webpage of Dr Savani Anbalagan is here.

Keywords: synapse, oxytocin, BBB, zebrafish, gasocrine 

Lab motto: Cha-Cha-Cha 

Lab quote: In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual - Galileo

Dr Savani Anbalagan 

(Tamil: சவானி அன்பழகன்)
savanb@amu.edu.pl | Bio

During my Ph.D. research, I focused on the genetic mechanisms that protect the telomeric DNA in budding yeast (PLoS Genet. 2011). During my postdoctoral training, my research was centered on identifying genes that regulate neurohypophysis development in zebrafish and exploring the roles of ligand-receptor-mediated signaling in neurovascular development. Our work led to the discovery that Vegfa and Tgfβ3 play pivotal roles in regulating the formation of BBB-less capillaries in neurohypophysis (Dev Cell 2018). Additionally, we identified Slit3-Robo2 signaling promotes neurohypophyseal synaptic oxytocin levels (Elife 2019). As a PI, I continue to explore the role of ligand-receptor interactions in neurohypophysis development and we recently developed the zebrafish ligand-receptor atlas, a valuable resource for the zebrafish research community (iScience 2023). Finally, adopting an unconventional thinking approach, I proposed the gasocrine theory (Zenodo 2024) based on the other new terms and concepts of gasocrine signaling, gasoreceptors, gasocrinology, aquareceptors, swodkoreceptors, thermocrine signaling, and riboceptors (Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2024, Animal Model Exp Med. 2024, Postepy Biochem. 2024, RNA Biol. 2024, Zenodo 2024). I also created the curated list of gasoreceptors (Zenodo 2024) and also the first putative gasoreceptor atlas (GitHub: Gasoreceptor Atlas). 

Our model organism is zebrafish owing to several advantageous features, including its relatively high genetic conservation with the human genome, ease of genetic manipulation, and optical transparency in larval stages. Additionally, this choice is motivated by the inherent limitations of non-animal model systems when investigating the intricate complexities of the neuroendocrine interface, particularly in the context of neurohypophysis (Animal Model Exp Med. 2023). 

Research in our lab is funded by

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