Functional Genomic Approaches to Ageing, Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology

Is ageing inevitable?

Why do some animals age, while others possess seemingly extraordinary capacities for regeneration and renewal? In this course, we will explore how our rapidly growing ability to interrogate genome-wide regulatory processes is transforming our understanding of ageing, regeneration and stem cell biology.

We will begin by establishing a strong foundation in genome organisation, gene regulation and gene regulatory networks, alongside key concepts in stem cell biology, regeneration and theories of ageing. We will then examine how functional genomic approaches are being used to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms that determine how organisms maintain, repair and regenerate their tissues—and how these processes change with age.

Case studies will span diverse model systems, including organisms that reveal remarkable and sometimes unexpected biological possibilities, as well as applications of these discoveries to human biology and therapeutic development. Throughout the course, we will consider not only what functional genomics can tell us, but how discoveries are made, hypotheses tested, and fundamental biological insights translated towards new therapeutic approaches.

"My research is focused on animal regeneration and the stem cells that power this process. The main exprimental system we use is the planarian flatworm model system, and this allows us to study basic questions about how tissue regeneration is orchestrated and the features of stem cell biology that facilitate this. These animals rely on a population of remarkable pluripotent adult stem cells called neoblasts, that underpin these animals regeneration capacity and apparent immortality. Furthermore, we can use planarians to study the molecular mechanisms related to both cancer and aging, such as stem cell proliferation, differentiation and migration, that are all tightly controlled by conserved molecular mechanisms during regeneration.

Highly regenerative animals solve the regeneration problem using different  cellular solutions, including the use of pluripotent stem cells, lineage committed adult stem cells and dedifferentiation of tissue specific cells that regain potency. We hope to expand our work in planarians to investigate some of these in other appropriate animals  to see if they can provide further insight into the relationship between regeneration, stem cells and ageing. For example, we have recently sequenced the genome of the amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, that is able to regenerate its many different types of limbs. We are now investigating the regeneration and stem cell biology in these animals, which is fundamentally very different from planarians."