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Understanding the source of regenerative ability in animals

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Air date: Wednesday, October 10, 2018, 3:00:00 PM
Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views: Total views: 680 (143 Live, 537 On-demand)
Category: WALS - Wednesday Afternoon Lectures
Runtime: 01:03:51
Description: NIH Director’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series

DeWitt Stetten Jr. Lecture

Established by NIGMS in 1982 and presented annually in honor of Dr. Stetten, the third NIGMS director, this annual lecture is part of the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series.

Salamanders and starfish might be “simpler” than humans, but they far surpass us in one major way—the ability to regenerate tissues and regrow lost limbs. Dr. Sánchez Alvarado studies regeneration using the flatworm planaria Schmidtea mediterranea. Remarkably, when halved or quartered (even by high school students) this organism can clone itself from the pieces. More than 100 years ago, that feat captured the attention of geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan, who studied planarians years before his famed work on fruit flies.

As astonishing as the planarian regenerative capacities are, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado thinks we all have a bit of “planaria” hidden in our genomes. “You and I are turning over a number of cells equivalent to our body weight every year,” he says. “I lost billions of cells yesterday, but this morning I still recognized myself in the mirror. That’s because basic mechanisms are in place to retain our original form and function.”

For more information go to https://oir.nih.gov/wals
NLM Title: Understanding the source of regenerative ability in animals / Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado.
Author: Sánchez Alvarado, Alejandro.
National Institutes of Health (U.S.),
Publisher:
Abstract: (CIT): NIH Director"s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series DeWitt Stetten Jr. Lecture Established by NIGMS in 1982 and presented annually in honor of Dr. Stetten, the third NIGMS director, this annual lecture is part of the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series. Salamanders and starfish might be "simpler" than humans, but they far surpass us in one major way--the ability to regenerate tissues and regrow lost limbs. Dr. Sánchez Alvarado studies regeneration using the flatworm planaria Schmidtea mediterranea. Remarkably, when halved or quartered (even by high school students) this organism can clone itself from the pieces. More than 100 years ago, that feat captured the attention of geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan, who studied planarians years before his famed work on fruit flies. As astonishing as the planarian regenerative capacities are, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado thinks we all have a bit of "planaria" hidden in our genomes. "You and I are turning over a number of cells equivalent to our body weight every year," he says. "I lost billions of cells yesterday, but this morning I still recognized myself in the mirror. That"s because basic mechanisms are in place to retain our original form and function.
Subjects: Cell Plasticity
Models, Animal
Planarians--cytology
Planarians--genetics
Regeneration
Stem Cells
Publication Types: Lecture
Webcast
 
NLM Classification: QP 90.2
NLM ID: 101736993
CIT Live ID: 28664
Permanent link: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=28664

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