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Behavioral Science Core

Brain Imaging Core

Cellular Morphology Core

Genetics Core

Animal Behavior Core

Instrument Development Laboratory Core

Cecilia B. Moens, Ph.D.

Affiliate Professor of Biology and Biological Structure
Research Affiliate, Center on Human Development and Disability
cmoens@fhcrc.org
206-667-5627
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center B2-152
1100 Fairview Ave. N. Seattle 98109-1024

In the past five years Dr. Moens has developed the zebrafish as an in vivo tool for understanding the developmental basis of Joubert syndrome, which is characterized by a distinctive hindbrain malformation resulting in physical and intellectual disability. She and her group have generated mutants in zebrafish homologs of a number of Joubert genes and have studied their effects on development. Moens has been most successful in modeling the retinal defects of some Joubert patients in the zebrafish and has discovered that the Joubert protein Cc2d2a functions in vesicle trafficking toward the photoreceptor outer segment, which is a modified primary cilium. A long-term goal is to understand how defects in vesicle trafficking influence hindbrain morphogenesis.

Moens Lab web page

University of Washington • Center on Human Development and Disability Box 357920 • Seattle WA 98195-7920 USA • 206-543-7701 • chdd@uw.edu