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The Problem of Regeneration Video Lecture
In this three-part lecture, HHMI Investigator Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado discusses many aspects of regeneration, a process that has long fascinated philosophers and scientists. In Part 1, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado provides a general history of regeneration research from ancient Greece to the beginning of the 20th century. He introduces key concepts in their appropriate historical context and discusses many of the unanswered questions put forward by the problem of regeneration. He explains why planarians (flatworms that are a simple type of multicellular animal) have attracted the attention of generations of biologists: Cut a worm into two fragments and each fragment regenerates a complete organism. Cut it into 8 fragments and each individual fragment will go on to regenerate a complete animal. In Part 2, he briefly reviews the history of planarian research and summarizes the central principles of planarian regeneration that have been derived from this extensive body of experimental work. In Part 3, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado introduces the model system he has developed to study animal regeneration, the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. He reviews its anatomy and the biological attributes that make these animals extraordinarily well suited to dissect the molecular and cellular basis of regeneration. He also discusses recent work from his laboratory aimed at identifying molecules associated with regenerative capacities. Five short clips are available for classroom use, and a speaker biography and related articles are also on the site. His talk is part of iBioSeminars, a series that offers free lectures from the world’s leading biologists, with accompanying educational materials.
Molecular Basis of Regeneration: Planarians as a Model System
In the final part of his lecture on regeneration, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado explains the techniques he employs to visualize gene expression in the whole animal he studies, the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. In the talk, he describes the slide's images, which reveal the complexity of the expression patterns the animal is capable of displaying.
Media: Quicktime