The Plavicki Lab uses the zebrafish model to study how genetic mutations and exposure to environmental contamination affects brain and heart health.  We are particularly interested in understanding the functions of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), a ligand activated transcription, in nervous development, and how exogenous activation of AHR by environmental AHR agonists disrupts the development of the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Our lab also investigates the endogenous developmental functions of sox9b, a HMG transcription factor which lies downstream of AHR.