Defects in the nervous system can impact the normal function of an organism. By examining mutations during neuronal development, we can better understand the significance of specific pathways. The EphR/ephrin pathway is crucial for axonal guidance during development. The simple organism, C. elegans, allow us to study the impact of EphR/ephrin genes on neuronal morphology, synapse connections, and basic behavior. In specific EphR/ephrin mutants, we see change in morphology and loss of synapses in a thermosensory and also a chemosensory circuit. These mutations can also lead to defects in food searching behaviors. These observations lead us to conclude that the EphR/ephrin pathway has a role in circuitry assembly and food-seeking behaviors.
After the nervous system has developed, proper establishment and formation must be maintained. When this maintenance is interrupted, this can lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FDTP-17). These diseases have the commonality of the formation of tau aggregations. Deciphering the impact of tauopathies in C. elegans allow us to investigate the effect of the aggregations on individual neurons and behavior. Introducing a human tau variant into the worms caused breaks in motor neurons and a reduction in the overall movement of the worm. This leads us to believe that this strain would be beneficial for testing anti-tau therapies to stop aggregants from forming before neuronal cell death occurs.
","abstract_html":"<p>Defects in the nervous system can impact the normal function of an organism. By examining mutations during neuronal development, we can better understand the significance of specific pathways. The EphR/ephrin pathway is crucial for axonal guidance during development. The simple organism, <em>C. elegans</em>, allow us to study the impact of EphR/ephrin genes on neuronal morphology, synapse connections, and basic behavior. In specific EphR/ephrin mutants, we see change in morphology and loss of synapses in a thermosensory and also a chemosensory circuit. These mutations can also lead to defects in food searching behaviors. These observations lead us to conclude that the EphR/ephrin pathway has a role in circuitry assembly and food-seeking behaviors.</p> <p>After the nervous system has developed, proper establishment and formation must be maintained. When this maintenance is interrupted, this can lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FDTP-17). These diseases have the commonality of the formation of tau aggregations. Deciphering the impact of tauopathies in <em>C. elegans</em> allow us to investigate the effect of the aggregations on individual neurons and behavior. Introducing a human tau variant into the worms caused breaks in motor neurons and a reduction in the overall movement of the worm. This leads us to believe that this strain would be beneficial for testing anti-tau therapies to stop aggregants from forming before neuronal cell death occurs.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Arnold, Miranda"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Integrative Biology (MSIB)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Biology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Christopher Cornelison","Dr. Lisa Ganser","Dr. Jared Taglialatela"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-06-28T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-06-28T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:33Z","subjects":["C. elegans","ephrin","tau","neuronal morphology","behavior","Behavioral Neurobiology","Biology","Developmental Neuroscience","Integrative Biology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/integrbiol_etd/43","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Christopher Cornelison","Dr. Lisa Ganser","Dr. Jared Taglialatela"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Arnold, Miranda"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-07-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Integrative Biology (MSIB)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["C. elegans","ephrin","tau","neuronal morphology","behavior","Behavioral Neurobiology","Biology","Developmental Neuroscience","Integrative Biology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/integrbiol_etd/43"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Defects in the nervous system can impact the normal function of an organism. By examining mutations during neuronal development, we can better understand the significance of specific pathways. The EphR/ephrin pathway is crucial for axonal guidance during development. The simple organism, C. elegans, allow us to study the impact of EphR/ephrin genes on neuronal morphology, synapse connections, and basic behavior. In specific EphR/ephrin mutants, we see change in morphology and loss of synapses in a thermosensory and also a chemosensory circuit. These mutations can also lead to defects in food searching behaviors. These observations lead us to conclude that the EphR/ephrin pathway has a role in circuitry assembly and food-seeking behaviors.
After the nervous system has developed, proper establishment and formation must be maintained. When this maintenance is interrupted, this can lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FDTP-17). These diseases have the commonality of the formation of tau aggregations. Deciphering the impact of tauopathies in C. elegans allow us to investigate the effect of the aggregations on individual neurons and behavior. Introducing a human tau variant into the worms caused breaks in motor neurons and a reduction in the overall movement of the worm. This leads us to believe that this strain would be beneficial for testing anti-tau therapies to stop aggregants from forming before neuronal cell death occurs.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Neural Development to Neurodegeneration Through the Mind of a Worm"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Christopher Cornelison","Dr. Lisa Ganser","Dr. Jared Taglialatela"],"dc:creator":["Arnold, Miranda"],"dc:date.available":["2024-07-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Defects in the nervous system can impact the normal function of an organism. By examining mutations during neuronal development, we can better understand the significance of specific pathways. The EphR/ephrin pathway is crucial for axonal guidance during development. The simple organism, C. elegans, allow us to study the impact of EphR/ephrin genes on neuronal morphology, synapse connections, and basic behavior. In specific EphR/ephrin mutants, we see change in morphology and loss of synapses in a thermosensory and also a chemosensory circuit. These mutations can also lead to defects in food searching behaviors. These observations lead us to conclude that the EphR/ephrin pathway has a role in circuitry assembly and food-seeking behaviors.
After the nervous system has developed, proper establishment and formation must be maintained. When this maintenance is interrupted, this can lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FDTP-17). These diseases have the commonality of the formation of tau aggregations. Deciphering the impact of tauopathies in C. elegans allow us to investigate the effect of the aggregations on individual neurons and behavior. Introducing a human tau variant into the worms caused breaks in motor neurons and a reduction in the overall movement of the worm. This leads us to believe that this strain would be beneficial for testing anti-tau therapies to stop aggregants from forming before neuronal cell death occurs.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/integrbiol_etd/43"],"dc:subject":["C. elegans","ephrin","tau","neuronal morphology","behavior","Behavioral Neurobiology","Biology","Developmental Neuroscience","Integrative Biology"],"dc:title":["Neural Development to Neurodegeneration Through the Mind of a Worm"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Integrative Biology (MSIB)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:33Z"}