2024 Seed Grant
Takeshi Yoshimatsu, Ph.D.
Washington University in St. Louis
Attention is an essential ability for carrying out daily life. This enables us to focus on tasks while suppressing distractions from surrounding stimuli. Attentional disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are highly heritable conditions. However, how gene mutations that are associated with ADHD/ASD change animal’s ability to pay attention is not well understood. This research aims to establish the larval zebrafish system to study brain circuitry underlying visual attention, a type of attentional behavior. Using a novel behavioral paradigm and specialized microscopes that allow us to investigate neurons across the entire brain, we will produce the whole brain activity maps in ADHD/ASD-associated gene mutants and identify key neural populations and their identities, such as neurotransmitter types, that lead to the disruption of visual attention. This research will lay an essential foundation for future research into the cellular and physiological underpinnings of the disorders.
