December 4 @ 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Dr. Celina Juliano
Associate Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology
University of California, Davis
“Mechanisms of development and regeneration in Hydra”
Abstract: Hydra vulgaris is a small and simple aquatic animal capable of whole-body regeneration. The entire animal, including the nervous system, is composed of about 25 cell types, and can regenerate from a fragment of tissue as small as 300 cells. In addition, all cell types are continually renewed in the uninjured adult as part of normal homeostasis. These remarkable features are enabled by three distinct populations of stem cells that support the three lineages that make up the adult animal. A major goal of our laboratory is to understand the gene regulatory networks that control the specification of all Hydra vulgaris cell types in the uninjured (homeostatic) state and then understand how injury triggers these differentiation pathways at unexpected locations during regeneration. We are particularly interested in the regeneration of the nervous system and the restoration of neural circuit activity and behaviors. Using high throughput genomics approaches, we have transcriptionally defined every cell type in Hydra vulgaris and identified putative transcriptional regulators for each cell type. We are currently leveraging these data to conduct functional testing of key putative regulators and to identify injury inputs into cell specification events during regeneration. In addition, we are investigating a closely related species, Hydra oligactis, that has regeneration deficiencies, which provides a powerful comparative approach to further reveal the molecular mechanisms of regeneration.
Host: Katie Thompson-Peer & Mia Brantley
Seminar will be held in person only.
For questions about this event, please contact Mayra Rubio at mrubio3@uci.edu.