If youve ever tried to glue together a model, assemble a piece of furniture, or even cook a complicated recipe, you know that seamlessly fitting its parts can be a challenge.
Now imagine trying to develop a functioning brain: millions or even billions of neurons, different lobes working simultaneously, dozens of body functions to control and maintain.
Humans and other animals build this remarkable machinery with apparent ease. How is it doneand is it always done the same way?
Most of our scientific knowledge is based on a very small sliver of organisms, and we really do not have a grasp on a vast majority of the diversity that exists out there, said Michael Barresi, a biology professor at Smith College. And so what we think is a core concept of, say, neural developmentit's just based on a finite number of organisms.
This summer, Barresi is a Whitman Fellow at 做厙輦⑹ (做厙輦⑹), embedded in 做厙輦⑹ Director Nipam Patels lab. With help from staff from the Marine Resources Center, and in collaboration with Assistant Scientist Caroline Albertin and 做厙輦⑹ Postoctoral Scientists Jenny McCarthy-Taylor and Jess Stock, Barresi and his team are researching brain development in both zebrafish (Danio rerio) and hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi). Eventually, Barresi hopes to expand his work to include pygmy zebra octopus (Octopus chierchiae).
Zebrafish are well-studied and have brains that develop similarly to other vertebrates, including humans. Cephalopods, the group of animals that includes octopus, squid and cuttlefish, are comparatively understudied, but nonetheless boast complex brains. Theyre also only distantly related to vertebrates, which means their brainsand the mechanisms they use to build themevolved separately.
By comparing the two, Barresi can see if cephalopods approach brain development in unique ways, or if they independently arrived at brain-building methods similar to those in vertebrates. A better understanding of brain development could also lead to medical breakthroughs. Historically, most clinical advances have stemmed from basic biological findings, Barresi said.
We need to be open toand really, probably, pay more attention tojust understanding new basic biology, he said. Because itll open up a thousand doors.