A healthy brain depends not only on neurons but on the cells that tend them. Microglia, the brain’s resident macrophages, prune synapses, clear dying cells, and respond to injury. When they falter, the consequences range from altered behavior to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease. Yet we know surprisingly little about how microglia and their relatives, macrophages throughout the body, respond to stress, how their functions evolved, and how early events in brain development have lasting effects.

We study how the brain and the cells that tend it develop and evolve, using two complementary fish models: zebrafish, ideal for live imaging and genetic screens, and the Mexican tetra, whose surface and cave populations offer a natural experiment in evolution. We ask four connected questions:

• Disease: What new roles do microglia play in neurodevelopmental disorders beyond neurodegeneration? We address this question with large-scale CRISPR screens.
• Evolution: How have microglia and macrophages changed as cavefish adapted to life in darkness?
• Cell biology: How do microglia and macrophages remodel their organelles, from lysosomes to peroxisomes, under stress?
• Physiology and behavior: Which neural circuits do microglia help build during development, and what lasting consequences follow for physiology and behavior?

We are cell biologists, neurobiologists, and evolutionary developmental biologists united by curiosity about how the brain and body are built and maintained. Our goal is to uncover fundamental principles of brain development and function, and to find new strategies to prevent or treat neurological disease.