Aydin Tavakoli

We are investigating the link between N-Cadherin and branch stabilization in retinal ganglion cell axons of Xenopus tadpoles. Dominant negative N-Cad-DE and eGFP are co-transfected into retinal cells via electroporation.  We then observe the structural changes within single retinal ganglion cell axons terminating in the Xenopus tectum through the use of in vivo two-photon microscopy.We are also looking at the participation of cadherins in activity-dependent synaptic stabilization. Our plan is to use Fluorescence Resonance Energy  Transfer (FRET),to detect the dimerization of two complementarily tagged N-Cad monomers in growing axons.