IZFS Webinars
About | Upcoming Webinars | Previous Webinars | Sponsors | Sponsorship Opportunities
In April 2020, the International Zebrafish Society (IZFS) launched the IZFS Webinar Series. The series includes a variety of research and professional development topics. The content of the webinars is designed for researchers from every career level and to share the latest scientific findings, methods, technologies, and products to facilitate research. The format provides direct access to experts in the field in an interactive online setting.
Webinar registration is free to all IZFS members. Non-members may participate in each webinar for a fee of $25.00 USD. To register for webinars, please click here. If you have never been a member and would like to join, please click here. If your membership has lapsed and you would like to renew to participate in the webinars, please click here.
Upcoming Webinars
When Development Takes the Wrong Direction
Presented By the Canadian Research Community
Featuring Ashish Deshwar, MD, PhD and Emilio Mendez Olivos, PhD
January 29, 2026
10:00am - 11:00am EST | Find your time here
Disease Modelling for Precision Child Health
Ashish Deshwar, BSc, MD, PhD
Scientist
Sickkids Research Institute
In this talk, I will present an overview of our research program and highlight several active projects in the lab. I will describe how we use the zebrafish model system to discover new disease-gene associations, study their molecular mechanisms, and then translate these insights to inform on the pathogenesis and treatment of common conditions.
Pdgfab/Pdgfra-mediated chemoattraction guides the migration of sclerotome-derived fibroblast precursors in zebrafish
Emilio Méndez-Olivos, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine
University of Calgary
In vertebrates, the sclerotome is a transient embryonic structure that gives rise to various tissue support cells, including fibroblasts. However, how fibroblast precursors are guided to diverse tissues remain poorly understood. Using zebrafish, our lab has previously shown that sclerotome-derived cells undergo extensive migration to generate distinct fibroblast subtypes, including tenocytes along the myotendinous junction and fin mesenchymal cells in the fin fold. The pan-fibroblast gene platelet-derived growth factor receptor a (pdgfra), which has been implicated in cell migration across various contexts, is specifically expressed in the sclerotome and its descendants. Loss of functional Pdgfra in a pdgfra gene-trap mutant results in severe defects in the migration of sclerotome-derived cells, leading to a dose-dependent loss of tenocytes and fin mesenchymal cells. By combining live imaging and mosaic labeling with a membrane-bound dominant-negative tool, we demonstrate that Pdgfra acts cell autonomously to regulate the migration of sclerotome-derived cells. In the absence of ligand pdgfab, which is expressed in the medial somite, sclerotome-derived cells fail to migrate medially, resulting in a loss of tenocytes, although they can migrate normally toward the fin fold and generate fin mesenchymal cells. Strikingly, localized expression of Pdgfab in pdgfab mutants can direct the migration of sclerotome derived cells to both normal and ectopic locations, suggesting a chemoattractive role for the Pdgfab ligand. Together, our results demonstrate that Pdgfab/Pdgfra-mediated chemoattraction guides the migration of sclerotome-derived fibroblast precursors to specific locations, where they diversify into distinct fibroblast subtypes.
Previous Webinars
For a complete list of our archived webinars, please click here
Current members may access the recorded webinars by logging into the "members-only" portal
Webinar Sponsorship Opportunities
This educational format provides a unique opportunity for potential sponsors to connect with the most influential group of fish researchers in a virtual setting. The content of the webinars is designed to attract researchers from every career level and to share the latest scientific findings, methods, technologies and products to facilitate their research work. With this virtual format, sponsors not only have exposure to attendees accessing the live webinars, but additional exposure and continued visibility as webinars are archived on the IZFS website and available to members to view on demand.
Explore the Sponsorship Opportunities Here
Please reach out to Alyssa Gluth at agluth@izfs.org with any questions.