Basson:Subreena Simrick

Sensory cranial ganglia
The twelve cranial nerves are the sensory and motor nerves of the head, heart and gut. Sensory cranial ganglia are derived from late migrating neural crest cells and regions of ectodermal thickening called placodes. Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGF) have been implicated in olfactory, epibranchial and otic placode development, as well as neural crest migration. The Sprouty (Spry) gene family encodes feedback antagonists of FGF signalling, and embryos lacking both Spry1 and Spry2 exhibit abnormal morphology in the proximal and/or distal regions of the cranial nerves V, VII/VIII, IX and X at E10.5. My project explores the role of Spry in cranial nerve development to better understand the factors and tissue dynamics involved in the formation of this intricate neural network.