Research

“NeuroPAL” is a method Professor Yemini developed for in vivo, cell-type labeling using color barcodes (Yemini et al, Cell 2021). The method was used to identify every neuron type in the worm C. elegans: 1) to map neural communication, at single-cell resolution, for every neuron type across the whole nervous system; and 2) to visualize dynamic changes in cell fate and identity (e.g., to determine the role of transcription factors).

The goal of the Yemini Lab is to understand how a nervous system grows to meet the behavioral needs of specific stages of life. Tools we pioneered for the worm C. elegans enable us to connect behavioral changes during development to causative changes at the genetic, molecular, cellular, and neural communication levels, illuminating precisely how a nervous system grows and changes.

With these tools we are developing a systems-biology model of a whole nervous system, at single-cell resolution, establishing the logic and mechanisms of how this network is reconfigured during development. Additionally, we are expanding our “NeuroPAL” method (color barcodes for in vivo cell type identification) to other model organisms.