Worm Regeneration and Reproduction: A Story in Several Segments with Duygu Özpolat

Segmented worms (or Annelids) have amazing abilities to regrow their lost body parts; a phenomenon called regeneration. When cut into small pieces, many worms can regrow new heads (including a new brain!) and new tails from the small pieces, eventually each piece becoming a new individual. As humans, we have so much to learn about regeneration from these organisms. What kind of cells, genes, processes are involved? How can we visualize regeneration as it is happening? Dr. Özpolat will provide an overview of the wondrous things these creepy crawlies can do, and discuss how her lab is studying them to understand the mechanisms of regeneration. To find out more about her lab’s research (as well as her Science Art), you can visit her website at http://ozpolatlab.org