#42: Immunofluorescence Staining of Zebrafish Retinal Ganglion Cells — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

#42: Immunofluorescence Staining of Zebrafish Retinal Ganglion Cells

Name: Natalie Vitek
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: Raymond, WI
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Independent research

Name: Frannie Drake
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: Naperville, IL
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Independent research

Abstract

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) connect the eye to the visual processing centers in the brain. They take the information the eye receives as light and transfer it to the brain to be processed. Humans are unable to regenerate RCGs and may be permanently blind if the RGCs are rendered non-functional. However, Zebrafish can regenerate RGCs making them an ideal organism to study to understand how regeneration could be induced. It is necessary to develop methods of RGC labeling and imaging in order to efficiently study them. Our research has focused on improving and refining antibody staining techniques to best visualize the development of RGCs in embryonic zebrafish using the ZN-5 antibody, which binds to proteins in RGCs and causes them to fluoresce under a microscope. We used embryos from two to four days post-fertilization in order to find the ideal stage of development for imaging, and have been changing reagent conditions to obtain high-quality images of the optic nerve with the ZN-5 antibody. This project is ongoing. By the end of the semester, we hope to determine the efficacy of the ZN-5 antibody on different stages of zebrafish embryos when labeling the retinal ganglion cells.

Poster file