My pronouns are she/her
Historically, research on well-established model organisms such as laboratory rodents have contributed to significant scientific breakthroughs. To fully understand the complexity of the biological processes and mechanisms across the breath of biodiversity, a broader inclusion of new model organisms from microbes to vertebrates are essential to uncover the fundamental principles. Planarian flatworms are best known for their impressive regeneration abilities, yet their regeneration abilities vary among closely related groups or species. Dugesia tahitiensis is a freshwater triclad that was first described by Gourbault N. in Tahiti in 1977, it is well-known for its fast growth rate and it has the most rapid asexual reproduction among triclads. It is easy and inexpensive to culture and manipulate in the laboratory, making it a good model organism. Preliminary data in our laboratory showed that D. tahititensis has a lower radiation tolerance compared to other planarian species such as Schmidtea mediterranea. However, there is no reference transcriptome or genome available for this species, limiting further investigation.
Here, I aim to establish Dugesia tahitiensis as a new model organism by constructing a high quality reference transcriptome, and optimizing genetic tools such as RNA interference and common techniques such as fluorescent in situ hybridization and immunostaining for this species. This would provide a new model organism resource for studying core mechanisms of evolutionary plasticity and regeneration.
