Lauren Kunselman, a graduate student in the Department of Biology and mentored by Elaine Seaver, successfully defended her dissertation on October 29, 2025 and walked in the University of Florida doctoral graduation ceremony on December 12th.
Dr. Kunselman’s dissertation, entitled “Investigating the mechanisms underlying intraspecific variation of regenerative ability in the annelid Capitella teleta” explored how regeneration abilities vary between different regions in the same animal. This project was rather unique in the sense that most regeneration studies compare regenerative ability across animals, which have distinct evolutionary histories and genomes, and thus can be difficult to interpret. Lauren’s research project utilized the segmented annelid worm Capitella teleta, an animal who can regenerate multiple organs in the posterior direction following transection. Lauren compared different responses to amputation across a single, transverse amputation plane because the head fragments can regenerate but the tail fragments cannot. Lauren also investigated the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling during C. teleta regeneration, since this pathway has a conserved role in patterning the primary body axis during regeneration in other animals. She found that experimental activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling following amputation of tail fragments induced expression of stem cell markers, increased cell division at the wound site, and generated differentiated muscle and hindgut tissues, yet did not promote complete regeneration. These results are notable because they indicate that C. teleta tail fragments have latent regenerative potential that is activated by Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Further, activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling induced ectopic posterior identity, as it does in other bilaterians. In another part of the study, Lauren investigated how regeneration potential of C. teleta varies along the anterior-posterior axis by amputating at distinct positions. Tail fragments amputated further anteriorly demonstrated increased ability to regenerate but still did not regenerate completely. Lauren’s work provides insight into the concept of positional information, as body fragments under the control of a single genome can result in the difference between regeneration success and failure, enabling the prospect of rescuing or increasing regeneration ability in regeneration-deficient tissues. Future studies will build on these experiments to induce complete body regeneration.
During her time as a graduate student, Lauren was active in the Whitney community, serving as Vice-President and President of the Whitney Graduate Student Association, teaching in the high school and adult education programs, initiating and organizing the “Whitney Magnified” graduate student fund raiser, and serving on the Discovery Lobby committee. Lauren also mentored several undergraduates for their summer research projects. Congratulations on this big achievement Lauren!