Principal Investigator Peter Reddien
Planarians provide a new experimental platform for uncovering basic functions for conserved metazoan genes. The RNAi screening approach, coupled with amputation and observation of the steps of regeneration, can allow study of the function of essentially any gene in regeneration. Prominent features of planarian biology--abundant stem cells, robust regeneration, restoration of missing patterns and cell types, and homeostatic replacement of aged cells--can thus be studied using a molecular genetic approach. Planarians therefore present the opportunity for the discovery of roles for genes in fundamental and understudied biological processes that are critical to the life of metazoans.