Professor in Developmental Biology.
The interest of my group concerns how light signaling controls the development and function of the nervous system, with focus on the brain and sensory systems.
Our main research focus is to understand molecular mechanisms downstream of light signaling that regulate the development and function of the nervous system, with focus on the brain and sensory systems.
Current projects
At present my research group is interested in three major neural focused projects using a range of model systems and primarily molecular biology methods.
1) Non-visual opsin related projects:
Opsins are G-coupled receptors that detect light by transforming the energy of a photon into a cellular response. Non-visual opsins, not directly involved in visual image formation, are also expressed outside the retina. We are interested to unravel their function in the nervous system, in particular the brain, olfactory and non-retinal eye structures.
2) Eye related projects:
The iris in the eye is a sphincter muscle that regulates the size of the pupil, and thereby controls the amount of incoming light in the eye. We and others have shown that light regulated mechanisms directly in the iris is responsible for a local pupillary light reflex. We are expanding our molecular knowledge regarding how the local iris pupillary light reflex is regulated.
3) Olfactory related projects:
In the adult mammalian head area there are three regions where neurogenesis normally occurs; in which the olfactory epithelium (giving rise to olfactory receptor neurons) is one of the regions. We are using the olfactory epithelium as a model system to unravel molecular mechanisms regulating the progression from progenitor cells to differentiated neurons.
Moreover, the first post-mitotic neurons in the olfactory epithelium will leave the epithelium by an EMT-like process, including delamination*, and migrate towards the forebrain. We aim to define molecular mechanisms that regulate this event, and what function the migratory olfactory neurons have.
* Delamination is a biological normal process where the basal membrane is degraded to facilitate migration of cells. The delamination process is often reactivated in cancer cells, which results in spreading of cancer cells in the body and formation of secondary tumors.
For more information, please visit the homepage of Lena Gunhaga: Homepage
I am one of the T10 course coordinators at the Medical Program.
