Senior Scientist, Neuroscience Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

My laboratory is interested in using genetic and molecular approaches in C. elegans to study nervous system development. We are interested in gaining new insight into molecular mechanisms involved in the establishment of neuronal cell morphology and, at a larger scale, in the morphogenesis of the ventral nerve cord in C. elegans.

Dr. Colavita completed a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto and postdoctoral research at Stanford University.

Noblett N., Wu Z., Ding Z.H., Park S., Roenspies R., Flibotte S., Chisholm AD., Jin Y.*, and A. Colavita*. 2019. DIP-2 suppresses ectopic neurite sprouting and axonal regeneration in mature neurons. J. Cell Biol. 218(1):125-133.

Zhang W., Colavita A. and JK. Ngsee. 2017. Mitigating Motor Neuronal Loss in a C. elegans Model of ALS8. Sci. Reports, 7(1):11582.

Shah P., Tanner M., Kovacevic I., Rankin A., Marshall T., Noblett N., Tran N., Roenspies T., Hung J., Chen Z., Slatculescu C., Perkins TJ, Bao Z.* and A. Colavita*. 2017. PCP and SAX-3/Robo pathways cooperate to regulate convergent extension-based nerve cord assembly in C. elegans. Developmental Cell; 41(2): 195-203.

Carr D., Sanchez-Alvarez L., Imai JH., Slatculescu C., Noblett N., Mao L., Beese L., and A. Colavita. 2016. A farnesyltransferase acts to inhibit ectopic neurite formation in C. elegans. PLoS One; 11(6): e0157537.

Sanchez-Alvarez L., Visanuvimol J., McEwan A., Su A., Imai JH. and A. Colavita. 2011. VANG-1 and PRKL-1 cooperate to negatively regulate neurite formation in C. elegans. PLoS Genet. 7(9): e1002257.

Habibi-Babadi N., Su A., Carvalho C. and A. Colavita. 2010. The N-glycanase png-1 acts to limit axon branching during organ formation in C. elegans. J. Neurosci. 30, 1766-1776.

Genetics; Model organisms; Molecular and cellular biology