Topic: adeno-associated viruses

Birds are excellent models to study learning, complex cognition, song and vision. However, to understand how these behaviors are realized within the brain, methods that are able to record and control cellular activity on a millisecond timescale are essential. Recent advancements in novel methods, such as optogenetics, calcium imaging or DREADDs, have revolutionized rodent research, but are not yet widely used in avian research. This is in part due to the fact that these methods rely on the introduction of genetic information for artificial ion channels or sensors. In the absence of transgenic

Amphibians hold a unique position in the study of the evolution and development of the vertebrate the central nervous system (CNS), as they reflect the transition from aquatic to land-based locomotion. A comprehensive exploration of the amphibian CNS, however, necessitates genetic and neural tracing tools, which were previously limited.Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) have gained popularity in mammals, due to lack of toxicity and host genome integration. Aiming to add AAVs to the amphibian toolkit, we tested AAV serotypes for CNS transduction in three distantly-related amphibian species: the fr

Technological advances have made Gene therapy a promising therapeutic strategy for a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases. Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) have demonstrated significant potential as safe and effective vectors for the delivery of therapeutic genes to the CNS. Despite the tremendous promises of AAV-based gene therapies, the pathway to develop these therapies from bench to clinic remains complex and arduous. In response to these challenges, we introduce the BrainVector project, a comprehensive cross-disciplinary platform that streamlines the pre-clinical development of AAV-bas

While the main olfactory system is tuned to detect general chemosensory stimuli, the accessory olfactory system integrates semiochemicals and other socially relevant chemostimuli. This duality of the main and accessory olfactory pathways is reflected by separate peripheral sensory organs as well as the main and accessory olfactory bulbs, which comprise entirely separate primary sensory circuits. Notably, downstream convergence of main and accessory olfactory bulb principal neuron projections remains elusive. Here, we set out to analyze these axonal projections and investigate neural physiology