Swimming Toward Healing: Zebrafish as a Model for Spinal Cord Repair

Host

Carlos Minutti, PhD, Immunoregulation Lab

Venue

Seminar Room

Abstract

Zebrafish have emerged as a powerful model to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms that enable full functional recovery after spinal cord injury, a capacity largely absent in mammals. This lecture will explore how zebrafish regenerate their spinal cord with remarkable precision, focusing on the roles of inflammation, glial bridging, neuronal regrowth, and vascular remodelling. Beyond fundamental biology, we will discuss how zebrafish larvae offer a unique, high-throughput platform for in vivo drug screening, enabling rapid identification of compounds that modulate regenerative pathways. By bridging mechanistic insights with translational potential, zebrafish are proving to be more than a model, they are an inspiration for designing future therapeutics for spinal cord repair.

Bio

Leonor Saúde holds a PhD in Developmental Biology (University College London, 2001) and leads a research team at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM) since 2008. She is Invited Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon. She received the Pfizer Award for Basic Research (2005, 2021), a la Caixa grant (2019), and the Santa Casa Neurosciences Award (2020).

Register here.

About CR Colloquia Series

Champalimaud Research (CR) Colloquia Series is a seminar programme organised by the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown to promote the discussion about the most interesting and significant questions in neuroscience and physiology & cancer with appointed speakers by the CR Community.