The Context: The ability to regenerate body parts is widespread across animals and regeneration has relevance to a broad range of biological disciplines. However, our understanding of regenerative mechanisms remains extremely limited in most groups. Most dominant animal models are relatively poor regenerators, and although some highly regenerative animals have become better studied in recent years, the number of regeneration models with functional tools available is extremely limited.
The Challenge: A central challenge for studying regeneration is the paucity of tools for specifically manipulating post-embryonic life-stages. This project will develop approaches for testing gene function in post-embryonic life stages (e.g. juveniles, adults), the stages relevant for studying regeneration in many animal phyla.
Our Project’s Focus: We focus on the phylum Annelida, a large and important group of segmented worms with many highly regenerative species but for which there are currently no post-embryonic functional tools. We focus specifically on three annelid species with distinct post-embryonic patterning processes that have become important models for studying regeneration: Platynereis, Capitella, and Pristina.
Our Project’s Goals: Our proposed activities are organized into three aims: (1) Establish and optimize methods for delivery of reagents in post-embryonic stages, (2) Develop and assess knock-down approaches in post-embryonic stages, and (3) Develop and assess genome-editing approaches in post-embryonic stages.
Community and Broader Impacts: We will promote dialog on post-embryonic functional tools through round-table discussions at conferences and online platforms, and will run a training workshop on testing gene function in post-embryonic stages. We will broadly disseminate our findings and protocols through blogs, online repositories, social media, and listservs targeting diverse research communities. We will also develop informational materials targeted to non-scientists to promote understanding of regeneration and functional approaches, disseminating these to high school science teachers and their students, educational websites, and the general public.
The Challenge: A central challenge for studying regeneration is the paucity of tools for specifically manipulating post-embryonic life-stages. This project will develop approaches for testing gene function in post-embryonic life stages (e.g. juveniles, adults), the stages relevant for studying regeneration in many animal phyla.
Our Project’s Focus: We focus on the phylum Annelida, a large and important group of segmented worms with many highly regenerative species but for which there are currently no post-embryonic functional tools. We focus specifically on three annelid species with distinct post-embryonic patterning processes that have become important models for studying regeneration: Platynereis, Capitella, and Pristina.
Our Project’s Goals: Our proposed activities are organized into three aims: (1) Establish and optimize methods for delivery of reagents in post-embryonic stages, (2) Develop and assess knock-down approaches in post-embryonic stages, and (3) Develop and assess genome-editing approaches in post-embryonic stages.
Community and Broader Impacts: We will promote dialog on post-embryonic functional tools through round-table discussions at conferences and online platforms, and will run a training workshop on testing gene function in post-embryonic stages. We will broadly disseminate our findings and protocols through blogs, online repositories, social media, and listservs targeting diverse research communities. We will also develop informational materials targeted to non-scientists to promote understanding of regeneration and functional approaches, disseminating these to high school science teachers and their students, educational websites, and the general public.