Maria M. Alves

This study investigates how loss of the enteric nervous system in zebrafish affects intestinal cell composition and identifies similar changes in human HSCR tissues.

This study identifies two enteric glia classes in health and disease, showing Schwann-like glia persist in HSCR and can be targeted to stimulate neurogenesis in a zebrafish model.

The paper performs single-cell RNA sequencing on larval zebrafish ENS to identify previously uncharacterized neuronal and glial populations and reveals a binary neurogenic branching mechanism.

The paper identifies large copy number losses as contributors to Hirschsprung disease, specifically in HSCR-AAM patients, and validates four genes involved in enteric nervous system development.