Dr Cavodeassi trained at the Madrid Autonoma University, in Spain, where she was awarded a PhD in Molecular Biology in 2000. During her PhD studies she acquired extensive expertise on genetics, molecular and developmental biology studying pattern formation in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, one of the most versatile models for developmental biology studies. After her PhD Dr Cavodeassi moved to University College London (UCL) to join Steve Wilson’s laboratory, where she mastered the use of the zebrafish to pursue neurodevelopmental studies, acquiring extensive training in embryo manipulation and imaging techniques. From 2012 to 2017 Dr Cavodeassi held a group leader position at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBMSO) in Madrid (Spain). Her work during those years established the foundations of her current research interests, focused on understanding the genetic causes of ocular malformations.

Even though prior to joining St. George’s her career was mostly research-oriented, Dr Cavodeassi also found opportunities to become involved in teaching and student supervision, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Her current role at St. George’s has expanded her education portfolio allowing her to extensively contribute to teaching, curriculum development, assessment and feedback and supervision. Since 2019, Dr Cavodeassi holds a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Dr Cavodeassi is member of the British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB), the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology (SEBD) and the EUFishBioMed Society.

Our research aims at identifying novel genes important for eye formation and involved in ocular malformations. For this purpose, we use the zebrafish as a model organism. The zebrafish has become increasingly popular to study embryonic development and model human disease due to their easy maintenance, short embryogenesis and the many tools developed in recent years to manipulate gene activity.

We use state of the art gene editing approaches to generate genetically modified zebrafish strains in genes involved in eye formation and patterning. Our current research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Fight for Sight, exploits these mutant strains to advance our understanding of the gene networks controlling eye formation, and to identify genes involved in ocular malformations.

We have generated several mutant strains in the gene frizzled5, a gene previously identified by us, important for eye formation. frizzled5 loss of function mutants are predisposed to developing eye malformations such as microphthalmia and coloboma. We are exploiting these mutants to identify novel genes working together with frizzled5 during eye development, and potentially involved in the aetiology of microphthalmia and coloboma.

We have generated a mutant strain in a gene essential for the formation of a part of the retina involved in high acuity vision. By comparing the transcriptome of mutant and normal retinae, we aim at expanding our understanding of the genetic network controlling high acuity vision in the zebrafish.

A complete list of publications can be found at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Cavodeassi

Selected primary research publications

Cortés-González V, Rodriguez-Morales M, Ataliotis P, Mayer C, Plaisancié J, Chassaing N, Lee H, Rozet JM, Cavodeassi F*, Fares Taie L* (2024). Homozygosity for a hypomorphic mutation in frizzled class receptor 5 causes syndromic ocular coloboma with microcornea in humans. Hum Genet. vol. 143, 1509-1521. doi: 10.1007/s00439-024-02712-y. *Corresponding author.

Powell GT, Faro A, Zhao Y, Stickney H, Novellasdemunt L, Henriques P, Gestri G, Redhouse White E, Ren J, Lu W, Young RM, Hawkins TA, Cavodeassi F, Schwarz Q, Dreosti E, Raible DW, Li VSW, Wright GJ, Jones EY, Wilson SW (2024). Cachd1 interacts with Wnt receptors and regulates neuronal asymmetry in the zebrafish brain. Science, vol. 384(6695):573-579. doi: 10.1126/science.ade6970.

Hernández-Bejarano M, Gestri G*, Monfries C, Tucker L, Dragomir EI, Bianco IH, Bovolenta P, Wilson SW and Cavodeassi F* (2022). Foxd1 dependent induction of a temporal retinal character is required for visual function. Development, vol. 149, dev200938 doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.200938. *Corresponding author.

Moreno-Mármol T, Ledesma-Terrón M, Tabanera N, Martin-Bermejo MJ, Cardozo MJ, Cavodeassi F and Bovolenta P (2021). Stretching of the retinal pigment epithelium contributes to zebrafish optic cup morphogenesis. eLife, vol. 10, e63396.

Young RM, Cavodeassi F, Hawkins TA, Stickney HL, Schwartz QP, Lawrence LM, Wierzbicki C, Gestri G, Ambrosio EM, Klosner A, Rowell J, Bianco IH, Allende ML and Wilson SW (2019). Compensatory mechanisms render Tcf7l1a dispensable for eye formation despite its requirement in eye field specification. eLife, vol. 8, e40093.

Hernández-Bejarano M, Gestri G, Spawls L, Nieto-López F, Picker A, Tada M, Brand M, Bovolenta P, Wilson SW*, and Cavodeassi F* (2015). Opposing Shh and Fgf signals initiate nasotemporal patterning of the retina. Development, vol. 142, pgs 3933-3942. *Corresponding author.

Cavodeassi F*, Ivanovitch K and Wilson SW* (2013). Eph/Ephrin signalling maintains the segregation of eye field cells from adjacent neural plate territories during forebrain morphogenesis. Development, vol. 140, pgs 4193-4202. *Corresponding author.

Ivanovitch K, Cavodeassi F* and Wilson SW* (2013). Precocious acquisition of neuroepithelial character in the eye field underlies the onset of eye morphogenesis. Developmental Cell, vol. 27, pgs 293-305. *Corresponding author.

Selected review articles and book chapters

Florencia Cavodeassi and Steve Wilson (2019). Looking to the future of zebrafish as amodel to understand the genetic basis of eye disease. Hum Genet doi: 10.1007/s00439-019-02055-z

Tania Moreno-Mármol, Florencia Cavodeassi and Paola Bovolenta (2018). Setting eyes on the retinal pigment epithelium. Front Cell Dev Biol, vol. 6, 145. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2018.00145

Florencia Cavodeassi, Sophie Creuzet and Heather C. Etchevers (2018). The Hedgehog pathway and ocular developmental anomalies. Hum Genet doi: 10.1007/s00439-018-1918-8

Florencia Cavodeassi (2018). Dynamic tissue rearrangements during eye morphogenesis: insights from fish models. J. Dev. Biol., vol. 6(1). pii: E4. http://www.mdpi.com/2221-3759/6/1/4

Juan-Ramón Martínez-Morales, Florencia Cavodeassi and Paola Bovolenta (2017). Coordinated morphogenetic mechanisms shape the vertebrate eye. Front. Neurosci., vol. 11, 721.

Florencia Cavodeassi, Tania Moreno-Mármol, María Hernández-Bejarano and Paola Bovolenta (2016). “Principles of vertebrate early forebrain formation”. In: Organogenetic Gene Networks. (expected publication date September 2016)

Florencia Cavodeassi, Raquel Marco-Ferreres, Ivan Conte and Paola Bovolenta (2016). “Eye: Embryology and Early Patterning”. In: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology, Oxford, Elsevier Ltd.

Florencia Cavodeassi, Marika Kapsimali, Stephen W. Wilson and Rodrigo M. Young (2009). “Forebrain: Early Development”. In: Squire, L.R. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, vol. 4, pgs 321-325 Oxford, Academic Press. (Updated in 2015 for inclusion in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology, Oxford, Elsevier Ltd.).

Dr Cavodeassi’s research is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Fight for Sight Foundation. She also receives internal funding from the Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute and the Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education.

The team:

Dr. Clinton Monfries, Honorary Research Fellow.

Mr. Jack Nicholls, Fight for Sight PhD student 2024-2028

Miss Marina Adjei, MSci student 2024-2025

The group hosts on a regular basis undergraduate and MSc postgraduate students.

Collaborators:

Dr Daniel Osborn (St. George's, University of London, UK)

Dr Alan Pittman (St. George's, University of London, UK)

Prof. Stephen W. Wilson (University College London, UK)

Dr. Isaac H Bianco (University College London, UK)

Dr. Rodrigo M Young (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, UK)

Dr. Lucas Fares-Taie (Imagine Institute of Genetic Diseases, Paris, France)

Prof. Paola Bovolenta (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain)

Dr Cavodeassi participates in a diversity of activities directed at Biomedical Science students:

• She co-leads with other colleagues the Structured Research Projects and Development & Disease modules, directed at 3^rd Year MSci, Intercalated and Biomedical Science students;
• She delivers lectures, practical sessions and tutorials in several 2^nd and 3^rd year modules;
• She is involved in curriculum development, generation of assessment items, feedback and marking;
• She is personal tutor for Biomedical Science students;
• She supervises undergraduate Research Project students.
• She is Research and Experimental Lead for the Biomedical Science Course

Dr Cavodeassi is Postgraduate Coordinator at the Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education.