The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
Congratulations to Whitney Laboratory Professor of Biology Dr. Elaine Seaver, for being awarded a three-year research grant from the National Science Foundation!
The newly awarded project is entitled ‘Cellular and molecular dissection of a stem cell niche in a marine invertebrate’.
Adult stem cells function during tissue homeostasis, growth, and repair in response to injury. In some contexts, stem cells reside in specific locations within the body. Seaver and her team identified a putative stem cell niche in the marine annelid Capitella teleta, an animal that not only can regenerate multiple tissues and organs but can also renew its gametes.
This project utilizes the favorable properties of this marine animal to provide a unique opportunity to experimentally investigate the relationship between germline and somatic stem cells and emphasizes the value of studying a diversity of animals to understand major trends in animal evolution.
Image: Anterior end of a juvenile worm of Capitella teleta showing a cluster of putative stem cells in the 5th segment (arrow, purple) of the animal. Image is in ventral view and includes the head plus 6 body segments. Image credit Elaine Seaver