Press Release
26 September 2024
Stowers scientists uncover a critical component that helps killifish regenerate their fins
The findings are a step toward closing the gap on how we could one day deploy regenerative medicine in humans
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Sánchez Alvarado Lab
Our lab seeks to uncover the cellular and genetic mechanisms responsible for regeneration and development.
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Publications
Research Summary
What is the basis underlying regeneration?
Research Areas
Development and Regeneration, Genetics and Genomics, Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cell Biology
Organisms
Planarians, Apple snails, Killifish
Regeneration is in essence the recapitulation of early development. The Sánchez Alvarado Lab investigates the genetic basis and molecular processes of regeneration and tissue maintenance. The group has established the planarian flatworm, Schmidtea mediterranea, as an essential research organism for regeneration science across the globe.
Dozens of genes, and genetic and molecular pathways that drive planarian regeneration have been uncovered in the lab. The lab has identified that adult somatic stem cells are the sole proliferating cell type that differentiate and are responsible for proper anatomical and functional integration of new tissues into pre-existing tissue.
The Sánchez Alvarado Lab continues to study planarians yet has expanded regeneration research to other organisms including the apple snail, Pomacia cannaliculata, and the African killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri. By investigating and characterizing the molecular and genetic basis of regeneration in multiple research organisms, the team seeks to understand developmental and evolutionary tradeoff mechanisms in higher organisms, including humans.
Principal Investigator
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado
President, Chief Scientific Officer, and Investigator
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, Ph.D., is the President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Stowers Institute. Alejandro joined the Institute in 2011, was named its Scientific Director in 2019, and named Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer in 2021. In 2023 he was named President and Chief Scientific Director.
Get to know the lab
Why planarians?
Planarians are an excellent research organism for studies on regeneration. The Sánchez Alvarado Lab investigates the mechanisms underlying regeneration using both the asexual and sexual strains of the flatworm, Schmidtea mediterranea, and a newly discovered planarian isolate, Girardia sp. (Guanajuato).
Our Team
Why Stowers?
Where would you be 20 years from now if you were to join Stowers? Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, explains how doing science here is different and why you should join our team.
2023 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for his contributions to the field of regeneration—from the identification of crucial genes that control regeneration in living organisms, to the potential for regenerative medicine to treat disease.
News from the lab
News
27 March 2024
An eye for an eye: The apple snail
The apple snail offers a way to study development and regeneration, providing insight to understand aspects of our own biology, and may one day help identify opportunities to induce regenerative capabilities in humans.
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News
13 December 2023
Where the wild things are: Planarian flatworms
Planarian flatworms could unlock the secrets to how we may—someday in the future—regrow a damaged or missing limb or repair an organ, potentially transforming the lives of the generations to come.
Read Article
Visit the Lab
Featured Publications
Hox genes regulate asexual reproductive behavior and tissue segmentation in adult animals
Arnold CP, Lozano AM, Mann FG, Jr., Nowotarski SH, Haug JO, Lange JJ, Seidel CW, Sánchez Alvarado A. Nat Commun. 2021;12:6706. doi: 6710.1038/s41467-41021-26986-41462.
Benham-Pyle BW, Brewster CE, Kent AM, Mann FG, Jr., Chen S, Scott AR, Box AC, Sánchez Alvarado A. Nat Cell Biol. 2021;23:939-952.
Changes in regeneration-responsive enhancers shape regenerative capacities in vertebrates
Wang W, Hu CK, Zeng A, Alegre D, Hu D, Gotting K, Ortega Granillo A, Wang Y, Robb S, Schnittker R, Zhang S, Alegre D, Li H, Ross E, Zhang N, Brunet A, Sanchez Alvarado A. Science. 2020;369: eaaz3090. doi: 10.1126/science.aaz3090.
Wnt and TGF-β coordinate growth and patterning to regulate size-dependent behavior
Arnold CP, Benham-Pyle BW, Lange JJ, Wood CJ, Sánchez Alvarado A. Nature. 2019;572:655-659.
Zeng A, Li H, Guo L, Gao X, McKinney S, Wang Y, Yu Z, Park J, Semerad C, Ross E, Cheng LC, Davies E, Lei K, Wang W, Perera A, Hall K, Peak A, Box A, Sánchez Alvarado A. Cell. 2018;173:1593-1608.e20.
Molecular characterization of a flatworm Girardia isolate from Guanajuato, Mexico
Duncan EM, Nowotarski SH, Guerrero-Hernandez C, Ross EJ, D'Orazio JA, Clubes de Ciencia Mexico Workshop for Developmental B. [published ahead of print June 17 2022]. Dev Biol 2022.
