ZFIN Lab: Levkowitz Lab

ZFIN ID: ZDB-LAB-031215-1

Levkowitz Lab

PI/Director:	Levkowitz, Gil
Contact Person:	Levkowitz, Gil
Email:	gil.levkowitz@weizmann.ac.il
URL:	http://www.weizmann.ac.il/mcb/GLevkowitz/
Address:	The Weizmann Institute of Science Department of Molecular Cell Biology 234 Herzl St. Rehovot, 76100
Country:	Israel
Phone:	972-8-934-6077
Fax:	972-8-934-4125
Line Designation:	wz

GENOMIC FEATURES ORIGINATING FROM THIS LAB

Show all 21 genomic features

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH INTERESTS

Our lab utilizes zebrafish as a vertebrate model organism to investigate development and function of several clusters of neurons that reside in the hypothalamus. Hypothalamic neurons regulate fundamental body functions including sleep, blood pressure, temperature, hunger and metabolism, thirst and satiety, stress and social behavior.

We study mechanisms of development that contribute to the formation of hypothalamic circuits starting from early cell fate decisions through later morphogenic processes that shape the neuro-anatomy of the hypothalamus. We also examine how genetic determinants of developmental processes affect the physiological function of the mature hypothalamus.

Understanding these processes is especially important as developmental impairments of hypothalamic neuronal circuits are associated with neurological disorders that disrupt both physiological and psychological homeostasis.

LAB MEMBERS

Chen, Qiyu Graduate Student	Gavish, Rina Eden Graduate Student	Grad, Tomer Graduate Student
Koukoui, Mary Graduate Student	Rajamannar, Preethi Graduate Student	Blechman, Janna Research Staff
Regev, Estar Research Staff	Velan, Ariel Research Staff

ZEBRAFISH PUBLICATIONS OF LAB MEMBERS

Chen, Q., Leshkowitz, D., Li, H., van Impel, A., Schulte-Merker, S., Amit, I., Rizzoti, K., Levkowitz, G. (2023) Neural plate progenitors give rise to both anterior and posterior pituitary cells. Developmental Cell. 58(23):2652-2665.e6

Parab, S., Card, O.A., Chen, Q., America, M., Buck, L.D., Quick, R.E., Horrigan, W.F., Levkowitz, G., Vanhollebeke, B., Matsuoka, R.L. (2023) Local angiogenic interplay of Vegfc/d and Vegfa controls brain region-specific emergence of fenestrated capillaries. eLIFE. 12:

Akinrinade, I., Kareklas, K., Teles, M.C., Reis, T.K., Gliksberg, M., Petri, G., Levkowitz, G., Oliveira, R.F. (2023) Evolutionarily conserved role of oxytocin in social fear contagion in zebrafish. Science (New York, N.Y.). 379:123212371232-1237

Swaminathan, A., Gliksberg, M., Anbalagan, S., Wigoda, N., Levkowitz, G. (2023) Stress resilience is established during development and is regulated by complement factors. Cell Reports. 42:111973111973

Peles, G., Swaminathan, A., Levkowitz, G. (2022) Glucocorticoid-sensitive period of corticotroph development-Implications for mechanisms of early life stress. Journal of neuroendocrinology. 35(11):e13229

Nunes, A.R., Gliksberg, M., Varela, S.A.M., Teles, M., Wircer, E., Blechman, J., Petri, G., Levkowitz, G., Oliveira, R.F. (2021) Developmental effects of oxytocin neurons on social affiliation and processing of social information. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 41(42):8742-8760

Brown, S.J., Boussaad, I., Jarazo, J., Fitzgerald, J.C., Antony, P., Keatinge, M., Blechman, J., Schwamborn, J.C., Krüger, R., Placzek, M., Bandmann, O. (2021) PINK1 deficiency impairs adult neurogenesis of dopaminergic neurons. Scientific Reports. 11:6617

Anbalagan, S., Blechman, J., Gliksberg, M., Gordon, L., Rotkopf, R., Dadosh, T., Shimoni, E., Levkowitz, G. (2020) Correction: Robo2 regulates synaptic oxytocin content by affecting actin dynamics. eLIFE. 9

Ribeiro, D., Nunes, A.R., Teles, M., Anbalagan, S., Blechman, J., Levkowitz, G., Oliveira, R.F. (2020) Genetic variation in the social environment affects behavioral phenotypes of oxytocin receptor mutants in zebrafish. eLIFE. 9:

Biran, J., Gliksberg, M., Shirat, I., Swaminathan, A., Levitas-Djerbi, T., Appelbaum, L., Levkowitz, G. (2020) Publisher Correction: Splice-specific deficiency of the PTSD-associated gene PAC1 leads to a paradoxical age-dependent stress behavior. Scientific Reports. 10:12734

Biran, J., Gliksberg, M., Shirat, I., Swaminathan, A., Levitas-Djerbi, T., Appelbaum, L., Levkowitz, G. (2020) Splice-specific deficiency of the PTSD-associated gene PAC1 leads to a paradoxical age-dependent stress behavior. Scientific Reports. 10:9559

Nunes, A.R., Carreira, L., Anbalagan, S., Blechman, J., Levkowitz, G., Oliveira, R.F. (2020) Perceptual mechanisms of social affiliation in zebrafish. Scientific Reports. 10:3642

Ribeiro, D., Nunes, A.R., Gligsberg, M., Anbalagan, S., Levkowitz, G., Oliveira, R.F. (2020) Oxytocin receptor signaling modulates novelty recognition but not social preference in zebrafish. Journal of neuroendocrinology. 32(4):e12834

Gordon, L., Blechman, J., Shimoni, E., Gur, D., Anand-Apte, B., Levkowitz, G. (2019) Fenestrae-associated protein Plvap regulates the rate of blood-borne proteins passage into the hypophysis. Development (Cambridge, England). 146(23):

Anbalagan, S., Blechman, J., Gliksberg, M., Gordon, L., Rotkopf, R., Dadosh, T., Shimoni, E., Levkowitz, G. (2019) Robo2 regulates synaptic oxytocin content by affecting actin dynamics. eLIFE. 8

Denichenko, P., Mogilevsky, M., Cléry, A., Welte, T., Biran, J., Shimshon, O., Barnabas, G.D., Danan-Gotthold, M., Kumar, S., Yavin, E., Levanon, E.Y., Allain, F.H., Geiger, T., Levkowitz, G., Karni, R. (2019) Specific inhibition of splicing factor activity by decoy RNA oligonucleotides. Nature communications. 10:1590

Anbalagan, S., Gordon, L., Blechman, J., Matsuoka, R.L., Rajamannar, P., Wircer, E., Biran, J., Reuveny, A., Leshkowitz, D., Stainier, D.Y.R., Levkowitz, G. (2018) Pituicyte Cues Regulate the Development of Permeable Neuro-Vascular Interfaces. Developmental Cell. 47(6):711-726.e5

Blechman, J., Anbalagan, S., Matthews, G.G., Levkowitz, G. (2018) Genome Editing Reveals Idiosyncrasy of CNGA2 Ion Channel-Directed Antibody Immunoreactivity Toward Oxytocin. Frontiers in cell and developmental biology. 6:117

Gur, D., Nicolas, J.D., Brumfeld, V., Bar-Elli, O., Oron, D., Levkowitz, G. (2018) The Dual Functional Reflecting Iris of the Zebrafish. Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). 5:1800338

Wircer, E., Blechman, J., Borodovsky, N., Tsoory, M., Nunes, A.R., Oliveira, R.F., Levkowitz, G. (2017) Homeodomain protein Otp affects developmental neuropeptide switching in oxytocin neurons associated with a long-term effect on social behavior. eLIFE. 6

Blechman, J., Levkowitz, G., Gothilf, Y. (2017) The not-so-long history of zebrafish research in Israel. The International journal of developmental biology. 61:149-157

Biran, J., Levkowitz, G. (2016) Zebrafish Reel in Phenotypic Suppressors of Autism. Neuron. 89:673-675

Biran, J., Tahor, M., Wircer, E., Levkowitz, G. (2015) Role of developmental factors in hypothalamic function. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. 9:47

Blechman, J., and Levkowitz, G. (2013) Alternative Splicing of the Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide Receptor PAC1: Mechanisms of Fine Tuning of Brain Activity. Frontiers in neuroscience. 4:55

Gutnick, A., and Levkowitz, G. (2012) The neurohypophysis: fishing for new insights. Journal of neuroendocrinology. 24(6):973-974

Amir-Zilberstein, L., Blechman, J., Sztainberg, Y., Norton, W.H., Reuveny, A., Borodovsky, N., Tahor, M., Bonkowsky, J.L., Bally-Cuif, L., Chen, A., and Levkowitz, G. (2012) Homeodomain protein otp and activity-dependent splicing modulate neuronal adaptation to stress. Neuron. 72(2):279-291

Blechman, J., Amir-Zilberstein, L., Gutnick, A., Ben-Dor, S., and Levkowitz, G. (2011) The Metabolic Regulator PGC-1α Directly Controls the Expression of the Hypothalamic Neuropeptide Oxytocin. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 31(42):14835-14840

Gutnick, A., Blechman, J., Kaslin, J., Herwig, L., Belting, H.G., Affolter, M., Bonkowsky, J.L., and Levkowitz, G. (2011) The hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin is required for formation of the neurovascular interface of the pituitary. Developmental Cell. 21(4):642-654

Machluf, Y., Gutnick, A., and Levkowitz, G. (2011) Development of the zebrafish hypothalamus. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1220(1):93-105

Machluf, Y., and Levkowitz, G. (2011) Visualization of mRNA Expression in the Zebrafish Embryo. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). 714:83-102

Russek-Blum, N., Nabel-Rosen, H., and Levkowitz, G. (2010) Two-photon-based photoactivation in live zebrafish embryos. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE. (46)

Palevitch, O., Abraham, E., Borodovsky, N., Levkowitz, G., Zohar, Y., and Gothilf, Y. (2010) Cxcl12a-Cxcr4b signaling is important for proper development of the forebrain GnRH system in zebrafish. General and comparative endocrinology. 165(2):262-268

Russek-Blum, N., Nabel-Rosen, H., and Levkowitz, G. (2009) High resolution fate map of the zebrafish diencephalon. Developmental Dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists. 238(7):1827-1835

Borodovsky, N., Ponomaryov, T., Frenkel, S., and Levkowitz, G. (2009) Neural protein Olig2 acts upstream of the transcriptional regulator sim1 to specify diencephalic dopaminergic neurons. Developmental Dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists. 238(4):826-834

Palevitch, O., Abraham, E., Borodovsky, N., Levkowitz, G., Zohar, Y., and Gothilf, Y. (2009) Nasal embryonic LHRH factor plays a role in the developmental migration and projection of gonadotropin-releasing hormone 3 neurons in zebrafish. Developmental Dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists. 238(1):66-75

Russek-Blum, N., Gutnick, A., Nabel-Rosen, H., Blechman, J., Staudt, N., Dorsky, R.I., Houart, C., and Levkowitz, G. (2008) Dopaminergic neuronal cluster size is determined during early forebrain patterning. Development (Cambridge, England). 135(20):3401-3413

Blechman, J., Borodovsky, N., Eisenberg, M., Nabel-Rosen, H., Grimm, J., and Levkowitz, G. (2007) Specification of hypothalamic neurons by dual regulation of the homeodomain protein Orthopedia. Development (Cambridge, England). 134(24):4417-4426

Levkowitz, G., Zeller, J., Sirotkin, H.I., French, D., Schilbach, S., Hashimoto, H., Hibi, M., Talbot, W.S., and Rosenthal, A. (2003) Zinc finger protein too few controls the development of monoaminergic neurons. Nature Neuroscience. 6(1):28-33