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Dr. Mansi Srivastava Srivastava LabAbstract: Wound repair and regeneration are fundamental features of animal biology, yet little is
known about how these pathways compare across animal lineages. The goals of my research
program are: 1) to identify cellular and genetic mechanisms for whole-body regeneration, and 2) to
create a framework for rigorous cross-species comparisons to understand the evolution of
regeneration. In this talk, I will discuss how we utilize a diversity of approaches including functional
genomics, single-cell RNA-sequencing, and transgenesis to uncover the mechanisms of regeneration
and stem cell regulation in Hofstenia miamia, an acoel worm. In particular, I will highlight how
studying embryonic development informs these questions.
Bio: Mansi received her A.B. in Biological Sciences from Mount Holyoke College, where she became
fascinated by the process of regeneration and wrote her honors thesis on regeneration in
segmented worms. She studied animal evolution using comparative genomics for her Ph.D. in
Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. For her postdoctoral training
at the Whitehead Institute/MIT, Mansi returned to her interest in regeneration and developed the
acoel Hofstenia miamia a.k.a. the three-banded panther worm as a new research organism for
studying the evolution of regeneration. In 2015, Mansi joined the faculty of Organismic and
Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and became a Curator in Invertebrate Zoology at the
Museum of Comparative Zoology. Mansi’s research group uses panther worms to develop new
approaches for studying both the mechanisms and evolution of regeneration.
PhD student in Dr. David Weisrock's lab studying the gut microbiomes, population genomics, and habitats of wild lemurs in southeastern Madagascar.
Welcome to S-STEM! The S-STEM program provides four years of scholarship support for up to 15 qualifying incoming Biology or Neuroscience majors per year. The average scholarship amount is $5000/year, depending on financial need.
S-STEM scholars will also receive four years of specialized opportunities and support, including:
By Richard LeComte
Cagney Coomer has three big achievements under her belt: She earned a doctorate in Biology from the University of Kentucky in the College of Arts & Sciences; she started a nonprofit to encourage kids to pursue science and technology; and her research unlocked the secrets of two genes in the eye – the subject of her dissertation.
By Richard LeComte
Started in 2015, the STEMCats Living Learning Program has helped students majoring within the many and varied areas of the sciences or mathematics find their way to success at UK. And STEMCats peer mentors are a big part of that effort.
