Projects and Grants per year
Grants and Contracts Details
Description
EDGE CMT: Uncovering Genomic-Epigenomic Interactions Underlying Planarian Stem Cell
Function and Whole-worm Regeneration
Planarians are free-living flatworms best known for their extraordinary regenerative abilities: many
species have the capacity to repattern and reproportion an entirely new worm from almost any piece of
amputated tissue. This incredible regenerative potential is dependent on a large, heterogeneous pool of
multi- and pluripotent stem cells, which are also required during homeostasis to preserve the integrity
and function of mature tissues. As a result, planarians provide a unique, adult, developmental context for
studying the maintenance of cellular plasticity and the regulated differentiation of stem cells into multiple
lineages – processes that are also essential for successful embryogenesis in any organism. In addition to
this impressive and distinctive trait, planarians also bear several features that are morphologically and
functionally analogous to those of other animals, including humans. For example, the planarian
epidermis comprises a monostratified, mucociliary epithelium that is highly similar to that of the lungs or
oviducts. Planarians also possess primitive nephron units, or protonephridia, which share structural,
functional, and transcriptional identity with their counterparts in human kidneys. In short, planarians are a
powerful, tractable, in vivo animal model for studying many fundamental cellular structures, functions,
and processes.
The remarkable biology of planarians has been the subject of fascination for centuries, yet the
exact molecular mechanisms that confer their distinctive features are still unclear. This knowledge gap is
largely due to two key issues: 1) the complexity of these traits and 2) a lack of well-developed molecular
and biochemical tools that are tractable in planarian species. However, in my postdoctoral work I
pioneered the use of powerful genomic tools to identify the in vivo, functional targets of two essential
chromatin-modifying enzymes in planarian stem cells and differentiated tissues (Duncan et al, Cell
Reports, 2015). I also recently published the characterization of a newly documented species of highly
regenerative planarians, Girardia guanajuatiensis, that display intriguing species-specific differences in
stem cell function, epidermal patterning, and regeneration (Duncan et al, biorxiv, 2020). As a principal
investigator, I will continue to advance the use of cutting-edge genomic and tools in multiple planarian
species in order to identify epigenetic features and mechanisms that govern their unique biology. A
major goal in my laboratory is to understand how planarian cells orchestrate the many dynamic changes
required for these animals to maintain their two most notable traits — whole animal regeneration and
immortal homeostasis — using a single, static genome. We hypothesize that differences in genome
accessibility, between cell types and species, play a critical role in regulating the expression of genes
required for the maintenance of these distinctive features.
1
Status | Active |
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Effective start/end date | 9/1/21 → 6/30/26 |
Funding
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences: $1,615,735.00
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Diversity Supplement for Easter Kabuya: The Role of Muscle Contraction in Gene Activation and Tissue Regeneration
Duncan, E. (PI), Morris, A. (CoI) & Seifert, A. (CoI)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
7/1/24 → 6/30/26
Project: Research project
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Administrative Supplement: Undergraduate Summer Research: Chromatin Regulation of Tissue Regeneration and Stem Cell Function
Duncan, E. (PI)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
6/5/23 → 12/31/23
Project: Research project