INFLUENCE OF MICROGRAVITY IN
THE REGENERATION OF THE
PLANARIAN SPECIES GIRARDIA
DOROTOCEPHALA
Group Members
Matthew Vuong – Co-Principal Investigator
Ben Appiah – Co-principal Investigator
Teacher Facilitator:
Guchmyrat Paytakov
Chemistry Teacher, HPS
Richard Gomez – Co-principal Investigator
Isaiah Ogunmaken – Co-principal Investigator
Bassam Razzaq – Co-principal Investigator
Community/School:
Harmony Science Academy – Houston
High
Houston, TX
PLANARIAN REGENERATION
o Strong regenerative capability
o Regenerates through use of neoblasts and formation of a blastema
o Neoblasts are cells that are able to differentiate.
o A blastema is a mass of undifferentiated cells that could develop into
any organ or tissue.
o Once a blastema is formed, the missing body part or organ that the
planarian needs is gradually grown from the blastema.
o Differentiation in newer and older tissue is seen through skin
pigmentation.
How does gravity affect regeneration in the
planarian species G. Dorotocephala?
PROPOSAL
Send a severed G. Dorotocephala worm into space to study regeneration of living tissue in a
microgravity environment. Planarians share physiological and cellular attributes with humans,
so studying regeneration in planarians can have implications for human tissue regeneration.
EXPERIMENT DESIGN
o Two G. Dorotocephala worms in FME; one
severed, and one whole.
o To keep worms from consuming their own cells,
chicken liver will be included as sustenance.
o On D = U-2 Clamp-A will be removed and the tube
shook gently which will coat the worms with a
fixative that will stop further growth while in
microgravity.
o Analysis includes measurements of total body
length, pigmented skin length, and blastema
length; followed by comparison to pre-flight
measurements.
EXPECTED ANALYSIS
The worms sent to space will have reduced growth compared to the
worms that regenerated on Earth. This is because the worms being
in a gravity zone have already adapted to a gravity environment, as
opposed to entering an environment without gravity.
Naturally, within the tube, we expect the worm that has a head to
have grown more than the worm with just the tail because the
worm with the head is able to feed while regeneration is occurring
and thus does not need to consume its own cells to survive.
LIFE APPLICATIONS
o Further our understanding of
applications of stem cells in
regrowing human living tissue.
o Possibly cure a number of terminal
illnesses or issues that we are
unable to treat effectively.
o For example, paralysis stemming
from a damaged spinal cord can be
treated through use of stem cells.
Acknowledgments
Special Thanks to Junji Morokuma, Michael Levin and his research team
QUESTIONS?