The Romero Lab
lanarians and their striking regenerative capabilities have attracted scientific attention for almost two centuries. Since 1814, when John Graham Dalyell formally observed and described the phenomenon of planarian regeneration for the first time, many have focused their interest on the mechanisms that allow planarians to restore any missing structure of their bodies. In addition, planarians are characterized by the ability to grow and shrink according to food availability, but preserving body proportions. These two features, together with the sexual reproduction and embryonic development displayed by some strains and species, make planarians an unique model in which address the question of how morphogenesis evolved and control metazoan development.
Our Research Line
Our work deals with studying at an ecological, cellular and molecular level the mechanisms governing morphogenesis in planarians. For this purpose we use different freshwater species: Schmidtea polychroa to embryonic studies; Schmidtea mediterranea, Girardia tigrina, and many others to regeneration and ecological approaches.
Our Current Projects
Characterize the embryonic development of planarians
Planarians lay polyembrionic egg capsules, in which several zygotes are packaged with thousands of yolk cells. From the very early cleavage, blastomeres separate and wander around a syncitium originated by fused yolk cells. When arriving a critical number, blastomeres reorganize and create two major transient structures: an embryonic pharynx, and an embryonic epidermis. This intermediate stage ingests the remaining yolk cells and, later on, develops into the young, by replacing the embryonic tissues with the definitive ones. In the last years, we have described these processes by means of molecular markers, and we are currently developing new techniques and markers to study how genetic pathways and morphogenetic mechanisms control the early development of planarians.
Compare the embryonic development, regeneration and homeostasis in planarians
From its beginning, my research group has focused special attention to the way in which planarians restore their different body regions, tissues and organs during regeneration. The techniques and methods developed to study the embryonic development enable us to start a comparative analysis of how the mechanisms that drive embryogenesis are later on redeployed during regeneration or in the process of growing and shrinking. To address this question we use common functional tools and transcript- protein detection methods, as well.
Study the ways of reproduction, distribution and abundance of planarians in ecosystems
Alternatively, in collaboration with the Department of Zoology of the University of Barcelona, we are engaged in the study of the biodiversity and distribution of planarians in the Iberian Peninsula. This research line has led us to describe new species of terrestrial and marine planarians, as well as increase the number of sampling records of these animals in Spain. In addition, we aim to explain their distribution patterns by studying their ecological and physiological properties.