Macrophages in the healthy and diseased brain

Background information

This group was formed to strengthen and expand research on functional genetics of disease, with the use of zebrafish. 

Overall aim

We aim to understand how microglia function in the healthy brain and how gene mutations in microglia cause disease.

Understanding human disease genes in the zebrafish

Zebrafish are small and transparent in early embryonic development, but still share about 70% of genes with humans. Therefore they are very useful to help us understand how disease genes affect cells by visualizing cells directly in the context of a living animal. 

Research focus areas

Genetics and cell biology research using zebrafish as a model system with direct comparison to human post-mortem tissue.

A complete overview of publications can be found here:

Tjakko van Ham.