Biography
Dr. Sagasti received his PhD from UCSF, where he worked with Cori Bargmann studying celll specification and left/right asymmetry in the nervous system of the nematode C. elegans. He began using zebrafish as a model at the Skirball Institute, NYU Medical Center as a post-doc with Alex Schier. In the summer of 2005 he was a Grass Foundation Fellow at the Marine Biological Labs in Woods Hole, Massachussetts. He began as a UCLA faculty member in the MCDB department in September 2005. His lab uses a combination of imaging, molecular, and genetic approaches in zebrafish to investigate on the morphogenesis of sensory axons and skin cells during development and repair.
Publications
A selected list of publications:
Vargas Mauricio Enrique, Yamagishi Yuya, Tessier-Lavigne Marc, Sagasti Alvaro Live Imaging of Calcium Dynamics during Axon Degeneration Reveals Two Functionally Distinct Phases of Calcium Influx The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2015; 35(45): 15026-38.
Rasmussen Jeffrey P, Sack Georgeann S, Martin Seanna M, Sagasti Alvaro Vertebrate epidermal cells are broad-specificity phagocytes that clear sensory axon debris The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2015; 35(2): 559-70.
O’Donnell Kelley C, Lulla Aaron, Stahl Mark C, Wheat Nickolas D, Bronstein Jeff M, Sagasti Alvaro Axon degeneration and PGC-1α-mediated protection in a zebrafish model of α-synuclein toxicity Disease models & mechanisms, 2014; 7(5): 571-82.
O’Donnell Kelley C, Vargas Mauricio E, Sagasti Alvaro WldS and PGC-1α regulate mitochondrial transport and oxidation state after axonal injury The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2013; 33(37): 14778-90.
Palanca Ana Marie S, Lee Sung-Ling, Yee Laura E, Joe-Wong Carlee, Trinh Le A, Hiroyasu Elizabeth, Husain Majid, Fraser Scott E, Pellegrini Matteo, Sagasti Alvaro New transgenic reporters identify somatosensory neuron subtypes in larval zebrafish Developmental neurobiology, 2013; 73(2): 152-67.
Villegas Rosario, Martin Seanna M, O’Donnell Kelley C, Carrillo Simon A, Sagasti Alvaro, Allende Miguel L Dynamics of degeneration and regeneration in developing zebrafish peripheral axons reveals a requirement for extrinsic cell types Neural development, 2012; 7(6): 19.
O’Brien Georgeann S, Rieger Sandra, Wang Fang, Smolen Gromoslaw A, Gonzalez Robert E, Buchanan JoAnn, Sagasti Alvaro Coordinate development of skin cells and cutaneous sensory axons in zebrafish The Journal of comparative neurology, 2012; 520(4): 816-31.
Wang Fang, Wolfson Sean N, Gharib Arash, Sagasti Alvaro LAR receptor tyrosine phosphatases and HSPGs guide peripheral sensory axons to the skin Current biology : CB, 2012; 22(5): 373-82.
Rieger Sandra, Sagasti Alvaro Hydrogen peroxide promotes injury-induced peripheral sensory axon regeneration in the zebrafish skin PLoS biology, 2011; 9(5): e1000621.
Martin Seanna M, O’Brien Georgeann S, Portera-Cailliau Carlos, Sagasti Alvaro Wallerian degeneration of zebrafish trigeminal axons in the skin is required for regeneration and developmental pruning Development (Cambridge, England), 2010; 137(23): 3985-94.
O’Brien Georgeann S, Martin Seanna M, Söllner Christian, Wright Gavin J, Becker Catherina G, Portera-Cailliau Carlos, Sagasti Alvaro Developmentally regulated impediments to skin reinnervation by injured peripheral sensory axon terminals Current biology : CB, 2009; 19(24): 2086-90.
Sagasti, A Guido, MR Raible, DW Schier, AF. Repulsive interactions shape the morphologies and functional arrangement of zebrafish peripheral sensory arbors Current biology , 2005; 15(9): 804-14.