About the Chitnis Lab
Ajay Chitnis, MBBS, PhD and his team at the National Institutes of Health (NICHD) investigate the mechanistic analyses of the neural deficits in KIF1A Associated Neurological Disorder (KAND) pathology. In collaboration with Katie Drerup, PhD (NIH), Chitnis and Drerup labs are developing and analyzing a zebrafish model of this genetic disorder, using specific dominant de novo mutations in the motor domain of KIF1A. Using live imaging of cargo localization and transport and whole brain analyses of neural structure, they aim to define the cellular and anatomical changes that occur in a zebrafish model of KAND. The expectation is that characterization of cellular and neural systems level deficits in the zebrafish model of this disease will provide a foundation for development of potential therapeutic approaches.
